Ushiromiya Kinzo
The old master of the Ushiromiya head house, Ushiromiya Kinzo. His shape in his study.
The clock showed noon, but he didn't even attempt to get up. Putting his spectacles on, he piled up one by one beside him old-fashioned books with elaborately designed bindings, and immersed himself in their reading.
It definitely didn't look like it was for his leisure; on the contrary, he exuded impatience, crisis, as though every minute, every second were precious.
The inside of the sealed room, where dense dust danced, stagnated, steeped in the suspicious stench of smelly medicine.
...Somehow, sweet, heavy. For anyone with a good nose, the first thing they'd do after entering would be to open a window and ventilate the room.
The knocking against the study door had been going on for a while. A voice calling "Father" sometimes mingled with the knocks.
As Kinzo heaved a deep sigh, he snapped the old book he had in his hands shut and slammed it on the table. Then, he yelled at Krauss who was still knocking on the door.
Kinzo: Silence! Will you not stop that noise, fool! Who told you the door would open if you knocked!? I'll crucify the imbecile! Do you wish to be as well!?
Krauss: ...Father, isn't today the annual family conference? Everyone's gathered down there. Please come out.
Krauss called out to his father through the door. ...Kinzo always shut himself up in the study and hated it when even his family entered the room. For that reason, Krauss had no choice but to call out this from the corridor...
Kinzo: Molest me not! What do you mean by everyone? Do you mean the fools trying to drag me out of here?! Then kill them all! Dismember them, make them into firewood, feed them to the witch's hearth! Put a pot in that hearth and boil wormwood! Force the imbeciles who dare try to lure me out of here to drink the broth of the Apocalipse! I will soak their dregs in liquor! Aah, Genji, where are you?! Call for Genji! Have my demonic absinthe prepared! The whispering of the green fairy reaches me no longer! Aah, Genji, where are you?! Call for Genji!
...Before the door, Krauss, Nanjo and Genji kept waiting for the master of the house, who would not come out.
Krauss: Hmph... Looks like he hates me to his core. My voice doesn't reach him anymore.
Krauss shrugged as though saying "It's no use" and smiled bitterly.
...He himself hadn't really believed his father would answer his calls. However, as it was the duty of the eldest son, he had formally made the request.
Nanjo: ...Kinzo-san. Aren't your sons and daughters and your gradchildren coming to see you...? How about you show your face, just a little...?
Kinzo: Shut up, be silent! Do you admonish me, Nanjo?! I do not call for you lot, I said to call for Genji! Now call for him immediately! Time is short, the apostles are already readying their trumpets! Why do you not understand, you foolish sheep!
Kinzo slammed the old, heavy book on the table over and over. The racket obviously indicated his highest displeasure.
Kinzo put his spectacles down and flew up from his chair. He spread his arms wide open, as if to sing to a packed opera house, as if appealing to someone, and yelled.
Kinzo: Why?! Why is there always something in my way?! I would throw it all away, I would offer up everything, and there is only one thing I ask in repayment! Ooh, Beatrice, if I could see your smile but one more time, I would plunder the smiles of the Earth and offer them all up to you! Oooh, commanders of the locust legions, reap the smiles of the Earth, *coughcough* *COUGH* *kofkof*! Aah, all is filthy, all is irksome! Why must I suffer this impediment on this most precious days!? *cough* *cough* *cough*! Call for Genji! *cough* *cough*
Krauss: ...I have no idea what he's yelling. I guess he's finally gone nuts.
Nanjo: Krauss-san... Isn't that a bit harsh, to your birth father...
Krauss: My father is already dead. ...All that's here is a phantom of what Father once was. At any rate, as long as he has no intention of coming out, there's nothing we can do.
Nanjo: ...Kinzo-san.
Choking coughs continued to pour from the study...
Krauss: I'm going back downstairs. ...It would be a waste to let that lunch Gohda's so proud of get any colder. It's one of the few things we can look forward to... in this family. ...Hmph.
Krauss spun on his heels. He looked at his wristwatch, mumbling and acting as though he had wasted time doing something he knew would be in vain.
Krauss: Genji-san. ...Father is calling for you. Keep him company.
Genji: ...Certainly.
Krauss: Doctor Nanjo. Let's go eat. ...If we stay here any longer, even our sense of taste will go insane from this sweet smell.
Without waiting for Nanjo, Krauss went downstairs.
Genji urged Nanjo to go and eat. ...Nanjo looked first to Krauss's back as he disappeared down the stairs, then to the study door, and he let out a deep sigh.
Nanjo: ...Sorry, Genji-san. Please.
Genji: Yes... Please leave it to me.
Nanjo: If possible, don't give him alcohol. ...It's too powerful a habit.
Kinzo: Is Genji not here yet?! Who dares keep Genji from coming?! Aah, Genji, where are you, call for Genji!
Genji: Now... please leave it to me.
Nanjo: *nods* ...Sorry.
Nanjo gave a small duck of his head and descended the stairs...
Genji saw him off, and knocked at the study door.
Genji: ...Master. It is Genji.
Kinzo: Genji?! Why must you make me wait so long?! There is no one there, I trust?!
Genji: Yes. I am alone.
Kinzo returned to his seat in the study and pressed an old-style switch on the table.
...After a small delay, the heavy sound of the door unlocking could be heard.
Kinzo believed that his family might try to break in his study. Perhaps someone once opened the window for some air and scattered important documents and other stuff? Is that what made him so nasty?
...Now, Kinzo had placed a secure lock in his own room, making it so that without his permission nobody could enter, and locking himself in the dungeon he's created.
Genji, who he trusted the most, was relatively free to enter the room, but that was also not absolute. If Kinzo was in a bad mood, even he wouldn't be able to enter.
...Anyone else would be limited to holding a conversation through the door, not even seeing his face. And most of the time, they wouldn't even get a real conversation.
However, that didn't become a big problem for the family. Because going to the trouble of speaking to the aged Head, who was impossible to please, completely immersed in his odd reasearch, and always loked up in his hideaway, just wasn't worth the effort.
...They were happy that he didn't come out of his study and, putting him in the hands of the servants, they themself also tried to avoid him.
Kinzo: Genji, my usual. I'm busy.
Genji: ...Yes.
Genji headed to a corner of the study.
There, a suspicious-looking bottle boasting a venomous color was displayed. ...It was actually liquor, but, considering that it was placed in this suspicous-looking room, one begins to doubt whether it isn't actually some kind of ghastly poison.
Inside the study, the mysterious collection of books that Kinzo had gathered had grown into a mountain. They were bizarre ancient or banned books, all of them either forbidden, bursed, or sealed.
But then, if one were to call them old book, Kinzo would fly into a rage and say something like this: "Call them Grimoires!"
There were many mysterious objects, like a candle suspiciously melted and molded into a strange shape, which probably had something to do with black magic. The constellations drawn on a certain celestial globe contained quite a few dots that a person who knows the night sky well would tilt their head at.
The illustrations inscribed in old, casually opened books were all full of religious, or possibly demonic, grotesque arcana, as well as the weird shapes of various magical circles.
And above all, the sweet, poisonous smell that filled the room profoundly assaulted those who entered for the first time in their sense of sight and smell, then all their senses, making them lose their grip on reality...
Inside that study, Genji, with his well trained hand, prepared Kinzo's usual drink. If you didn't know that the ominous dark green liquid that filled the complexly designed bottle was liquor, you really wouldn't want to put it in your mouth.
...He poured a small quantity of the spirits into the glass. After placing a cube of sugar in a strangely shaped spoon, he them poured water from a pitcher over it.
Strangely, when the transparent water was poured, the dark green liquid turned a cloudy white.
...It was a strange optical illusion, as though the water had caused a chemical reaction and made the drink become even more unrecognizavle as liquor. It improved the original flavor Kinzo liked and adjusted the taste.
...There was no recipe. Its success was measured only by Kinzo's mood swing when he drank it, and he had learned how to make it only after many decades.
Genji placed the glass in the tray, and faced Kinzo. Kinzo was now gazing out the window.
Genji: ...Here, Master.
Kinzo: Thank you...
Kinzo, now unrecognizable as the man who was shouting, screaming and yelling just before, regained his composure.
In that man's back dwelt a dignity and intelligence made plain simply by how he tilted his glass and gazed down at the scenery beyong the window.
Genji, in order to allow Kinzo to set down his glass any time, motionlessly waited behind and to Kinzo's left, as though he were a living sideboard. Thereupon, while Kinzo looked out the window, he stuck out only the glass.
There was just a mouthfull remaining. It was not a gesture intended to set it upon the tray, as Genji expected, but was an motion to hand the glass over to Genji.
Kinzo: ...Drink it. ...My friend.
Genji: ...That is more than I deserve.
Kinzo: No need for ceremony between us. ...Drink it. My friend.
Genji: ...Thank you.
Genji respectfully received the glass and inclined it a little to taste its contents. After that, he agitated it.
Kinzo: I attempted to imitate your concoction, but no matter how I try I cannot replicated the taste. ...the way you make it is pure relish.
Genji: ...Thank you very much. It is the fruit of your guidance, Master.
Kinzo: Hmph...
Kinzo smiled at his loyal subject who refused to put aside rank even when asked to. However, he was not making fun of him; it was relaxed, like a smile at a close friend0s unriddable bad habit.
Kinzo: ...We have grown old together. I forgot my age a long time ago.
Genji: being allowed to live here until now was all been thanks to you, Master.
Kinzo gave a thin smile, as if to say he didn't need compliments.
Kinzo: ...Until now, you have served me exceedingly well. ...My sons call me eccentric. The servants that were once many, all of them, retired in their growing fear of me. ...Only you, even now, serve me.
Genji: ...That is more than I deserve.
Kinzo: ...I do not have much time left to live. ...My sons are vultures, lazily waiting for my inheritance to fall into their hands.
Genji: ......
Kinzo: That fool Krauss squanders money like water, throws away two gold coins to obtain one. With that, he deludes himself in saying he earned money! Eva is a slave to money, thinking of me as a hen or whatnot! As if when I die, she'll even use my carcass to make broth! That dunce Rudolf just wants to fool around with women! Rosa bore the baby of a nobody! Jessica is incompetent and illiterate! George has none of what it takes to be a man! Battler is a fool who threw away the honor of the Ushiromiya family! And Maria is obscene to the eye! Why, why is the Ushiromiya blood so incompetent!? Is there anyone worthy to inherit the glory I built?! Aah, of course, I know, this is also Beatrice's curse, I know it! ...Aah, Golden Witch, is this the revenge you planned for me? If you want to hate me, you can hate me! If you want to run away, you can run away! I won't let you go, I won't let you go won't let you go won't let you go! You're mine! You cannot be anywhere but in my arms! For all my life! You'll continue to whisper for all eternity in my bird cage to me, only to me! Beatrice... Why... won't you give me back your smile... Oooh, Ooooh! Beatriceeeeee! Ooooh...
After howling, Kinzo choked once again. Genji set the tray and the glass down and patted his master's back. Genji's facial expression did not change. ...It was always like this.
Kinzo: ...*cough*... Hmhm. ...Thank you, my friend.
Genji: ......
The outburst, like his previous agitation, had calmed, and Kinzo regained his composure again. ...His change of stance was like seeing two different people, a wild Kinzo and a composed Kinzo, living together inside one body.
Kinzo: And so... I have decided. ...I cannot stand spending my dimmed, remaining years procractinating like this. If this body of mine is the final coin I have to bet, then I choose to abandon it to the whims of the Demons' Roulette. ...The power of magic is always settled with a gamble. Like visiting a shrine at the Hour of the Ox in ancient Japanese sorcery, to nail a curse doll to a tree. The magic power dwells in incurring the risk that it will be seen within the seven days the curse takes. The more dangerous the risk, the stronger the magic power will be. Many miracles that happened in myth can be said to be the crystallization of a shocking magic power that had a low probability of happening and an astronomical risk! That Moses parted the waters of the sea was not a miracle of God... was the risk of that desperate situation, cornered by soldiers on the Red Sea's shores, weighed upon the scales of slaughter, gave birth to the miraculous magic power. Even if the same thing occurs again, on many scope, the sea will no doubt not part. That is because Moses, instead of betting on incalculable odds in the roulette of those with power, managed to spectacularly draw to himself the single miracle carved within the eyes of many. That power that can triumph over astronomical odds! Yes, magical power is that fortune through which miracles are grasped! To obtain this mighty magic power, one must face the risk of despair! Those who possess no magical power call that desperation rather than a bet! However, people who truly do possess magic power can grasp hold of that miracle and make the enigma come into being! And if that power exists within me...! I'll seize that miracle! I'll have a chance at making the wish I devoted my life towards come true!
Kinzo looked up to the sky outside the window. He spread his arms as if appealing to someone up in the skies.
Kinzo: If only! If only I were capable of gaining that miracle! ...Oooh... Beatrice... Beatrice... Show me your lovely smiled once more... No matter how much time passes, your face does not vanish... I just want to see your smile... that is all...! I'll return everything you granted me! I'll return all the glory I've gained since that day! I don't need fortune, prestige, gold! I'll return everything you granted me! I just want to see your smile! For goodness' sake, Beatrice! Ooooooo...!
...His nonsensical yells segued into a scream... and then into a wail.
Kinzo folded over onto the bed, and tore it with both hands. Genji had no choice but to wordlessly watch over his master's lament...
No comments:
Post a Comment