Chapter III: He was born for love

Now it is here, dear reader, that I would like to recall a childhood memory of my own. I insist this will be a rather rare occurrence; however, I find it fitting, as in terms of technicality, this very uneventful, mundane episode is the first account I have ever heard of him. And that account has stuck with me, dear reader, I shall tell you what it is in just a moment, but first I’d like to say why it stuck with me, a bit unorthodox, I am aware. I am certain that I am not the only one who has experienced such a thing, a memory that is imprinted into the mind of a child that lasts till we take our final breaths on our deathbed. Sometimes that memory is something powerful, something that moves us, other times, rather random, so very, very random. Yet the latter, paradoxically, always held more meaning to me.

It was a rather sunny day, but not a hot one. There was a pleasant breeze present in our yard as Shinsei, a priest with close relations with our family, came by for a visit for his annual sacrament of reconciliation. I always had a particular fondness for his visits. My mother would have the maid hurry out the silverware to the little table we had in the shade of our maple tree. She would pour our prized guest some tea and offer biscuits, which the middle-aged man enjoyed with great ecstasy every time. Naturally, that day was no exception.

Shinsei had a sensitive tongue, so he couldn’t drink the boiling tea immediately. At first, he would take his time talking to my parents, thanking them for their generosity and kinship for an old friend. Then he would take a biscuit and take a small bite out of it. It is here that he would always praise the desert with a hearty laugh. “A priest doesn’t get to eat these often, you know!”. He would then dip the biscuit into the tea and wet his throat with it. It served as a heat insulator, allowing him to enjoy the beverage in the early stages of its serving before switching to the standard approach of enjoying the two things individually through alternation of bites and sips.

Calm chatter. Occasional anecdote or two. Everything seemed relatively unremarkable on that day. Usual compliments to Suzu, our housemaid who handled all the chores around the house, including baking Shinsei’s beloved biscuits. Stories of his travels. A story that happened right on his way to our home.

“I was over at the Kurosawa residence just the other day, had the heads of the clan confess their sins, the usual. I must say the head of the clan is the most unusual man. Do you know he… no no, god will certainly send me to hell, I mustn’t I mustn’t… Ah yes but that’s not even what I was intending to tell. Hear this, you too” - he turned to me with a hint of enthusiasm - “you know that the Kurosawa's wealth primarily comes from harvests these days? They have large fields of corn stretching as far as the eye can see. And the amount of peasants they have working them? Easily dozens, why, they can be considered a small village of their own!”

“Typical merchants” - remarked my mom with vexation - “They get a load of money and think they can just buy their way into the upper class…”

“Now where was I… Ah yes. I was heading to their place, walking the path that runs between all those cornfields and the peasants' houses, when I saw a young little boy run past me. He was probably your age, maybe 12, and he was exceptionally beautiful. His skin was white as a ghost, he had fluffy black hair that bounced up and down his head as he ran. And his eyes, you should have seen them! I have never seen a more mysterious shade of green. Tailing the boy was a puppy, white with black spots, or black with white spots, I couldn’t tell. The poor creature had its legs crushed, probably by a carriage or a plow, and they were hanging lifelessly like a pair of noodles from a device I have never seen before! Picture this, if you may, for the hind side of the pup, there was a belt that held up two wheels that allowed the creature to move around freely and keep up with the boy! I saw them put distance between me and themselves as they rushed together and took a sharp turn towards one of the houses. Needless to say, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to pursue them.“

“Why that contraption sounds quite clever!” - said my dad, shrugging his chin.

“Oh, sir, believe me, sir, it was brilliant! And far from simple! As I said, I pursued the two, first in secrecy, observing from afar. I found them not long after, just beyond the house they had rushed into. A handful of children were playing in the yard, caught in the throes of some grand play-pretend. Suliko, though I didn’t know his name yet. He had fashioned himself into some sort of terrible demon lord, sitting atop an old tree stump that served as his throne. At his feet, a girl he had “abducted”, playing the helpless princess locked in his clutches. Oh, and that girl was so adorable! So shy and innocent, a princess through and through!

Suliko would give an over-the-top villainous laugh and prepare to deliver his villainous monologues, but his words bore no weight. None of the kids really listened, they were all cutting him off, making fun of him, rushing to have their fight already. And funnily enough, hear this, the heartiest of the bunch, amongst that group of boys, was another girl, the polar opposite of the princess. Boyish was an understatement, she commanded the others with an iron first, hell, even I was intimidated”.

My parents were having a wonderful time as always listening to the priest's story. “Oh lovely” or “how humorous!” were just a few of the remarks that were occasionally sprinkled in like the sugary topics of the biscuits Shinsei was having.

“I love the innocence of children. Their purity is what we servants of god are trying to revert to if you think about it, but oh that innocence can be so damn cruel sometimes. Suliko was handled very roughly. Eventually, the children split apart, probably heading home for dinner. The only one who remained was our defeated demon lord. I took that opportunity to approach him.”

I was getting quite bored of the pastor's seemingly pointless story, but it was, I believe, for what he told us next, that this random visit stuck so deeply with me for the rest of my life.

“I was just about to call out to him,” Shinsei continued, “when the puppy noticed me first. The little thing let out a sharp little yelp and came rolling toward me, its tiny wheels bumping awkwardly against the roots of the tree. Tail wagging. Tongue lolling. I knelt down to greet it, and only then did the boy lift his head to look at me. Still no words from him. Just those eyes.”

He paused, took his cup, and brought it to his lips. The tea had cooled. He drank it in bold gulps now, no longer needing his slightly obscure rituals of injecting the liquid.

“I asked him the pup’s name. He stared at me a second longer before answering, very softly, ‘Wagamatsu.’

‘What happened to him?’ I asked, reaching out my hand to the pup, letting him sniff it. The puppy had a very funny big nose that pulsed with each sniff. So energetic.

‘Dunno,’ the boy finally said. ‘Found him like that by the river. Thought he was dead at first.’

I nodded slowly, watching as the pup gave a satisfied snuffle and began licking my fingers. The boy was definitely acting more reserved in front of an adult, not as flamboyantly outgoing out of his role of demon king.

‘Don’t worry,’ I said with a small smile. ‘Next time, someone else will be the demon king, and you can be the hero. If that’s what’s brought your spirits down.’

‘It’s okay, I like being the demon king’

‘Oh. And why is that?’

Wagamatsu was now nudging a pebble along the ground with his snout, utterly consumed by the task.

‘Because he’s the strongest.’

‘Is he?’

‘Of course! Everyone else teams up just to beat him. If it were one-on-one, he’d win every time.’

‘That doesn’t matter,’ he said, slightly defensively even. ‘He could. That’s the point. He’s the only one who could beat anyone.’

‘Even if he always ends up alone?’

Silence.

‘What if–,’ He hesitated. ‘What if he was all alone to begin with. Then is it okay for the demon lord to be the strongest? To fight everyone? To be defeated?’

I felt that these words exceeded the bounds of a child's game. He was trying to tell me something, something deep about the turmoils of his soul. I wanted to find out more, so much more, but I did not want to push too hard, so I decided to brighten up the mood.

‘Is that why you picked the shy girl?’

Suliko's eyes popped, and his thin cheeks flushed a light shade of pink. ‘What?’

‘She is quite cute, you have great taste, young man, she will grow into a real beauty’.

The colour of his cheeks shifted to a bright crimson.

‘No, no, no what does this have to do with anything I didn’t–’

‘She was blushing.’

‘So? That’s her problem.’

‘She was looking at you the whole time.’

‘She was playing along! I didn’t pick her for any reason.’

‘Mm. Of course not. Just random, right?’

He frowned. ‘It wasn’t— I mean— It just made sense.’

‘I’m sure it did.’

‘I didn’t do it on purpose!’

‘Never said you did.’

He started twisting one of his curls at the side of his head that was particularly sticking out. At this point, the obvious occurred to him.

‘Who are you anyway?’

I gave him a grin. ‘Me? I’m a priest. Pretty cool, huh?’

His expression changed immediately. He sat up straighter. ‘Oh. I— I didn’t know.’

‘Didn’t expect you to.’

He bowed his head slightly. ‘Sorry if I said anything rude, Father.’

I waved a hand. ‘You didn’t.’

He seemed troubled, an impatience surging, he twirled that pointy curl even faster, before overcoming something within him and speaking up yet again.

‘Please Father, I know this is much to ask, but please can you visit my mother, she is very sick and your blessing can cure her. It can cure her right?’ He downed the words in a single breath, his head cast downwards in a bow. “

“So did you follow him?” asked my mom.

“Of course I did” continued Shinsei, he was long done with his sugary treats and the tea and was toying with the ceramic cups.

“Madam, their house was something, I tell you it was something, I’ve seen better barns for cows than the house they lived in. On the edge of the woods, this tiny box, and inside, barely a room, a dark room, lit by a handful of candles and a fireplace, in the left corner…”

He paused, shaking his head.

“…there was a bed, or what they called a bed. Just a pile of cloth really. Blankets, old coats, torn linen, all arranged in a circle like a nest. That’s where she lay. and Madam, she was beautiful. You could see it, even in that state. Pale as moonlight, with hair like black silk fanned out over those rags. But her cheeks had sunk in from the sickness, her lips were dry, and her wrists, barely thicker than kindling. Had our fates been even slightly intertwined I would marry her on the spot.”

“My, Shinsei, you are describing that family as pure beauties, what about the dad?” - inquired mom.

“Well, Nana told me that he had passed years ago, oh and Nana is her name, what a beautiful and foreign name that is as well isn’t it? But yes, Suliko left me alone with Nana for a while as per her request. He ran out of the house with Wagamatsu tailing him to the best of his ability. I stayed at her side, inspecting her condition. It was unlike anything I’ve seen before, it was as if life itself, or rather a portion of it was siphoned from her. I began my prayers to see if they would have any effect. She cast her gaze on me, her eyes all seemed all the more vibrant and full of love on the premise of her sunken face.

‘I am a horrible mother pastor.’ She said weakly, almost to herself even. ‘I can’t go outside without assistance, I can’t provide for my baby boy, I can’t cook for him, I don’t even know any prayers to teach him how to pray right… Will you teach him how to pray, pastor?’ I tried to maintain the monotonicity of my prayer but the lump at the back of my throat made my voice quiver from time to time. I took a second to compose myself.

I found myself going back to their house on an almost daily basis during my stay at the Kurosawas. I brought them food, meat even once. They were delighted and infinitely grateful. In their poverty and sickness these poor souls never saw their strengths, their kindness, their humility, their beauty.

One day I was sure of that. One day I decided to teach Suliko some proper prayers, but first I examined his, I have never been glad of a decision in my life. He was all shy and bashful about it at first saying that his mom told him to never say them aloud or they won't come true. It took more convincing than I’d like to admit to get him to comply. Even when he did, he would still sneak guilty glances over at me and try to mutter through it. But despite his efforts to conceal it, I heard every word, and every word precisely and I had him say it again and again to make sure. Do you know what he does? He asks for only one thing, for god to cure his mother. Nothing, and I mean nothing about himself. Can you believe that? I have never seen a simpler and yet a more powerful prayer in my life. As a pastor I was brought to my knees, put to shame. I asked him why and he told me that that's what mattered to him the most, that he didn’t want to bother god with anything about himself, because if his mother would be well, so would he. I clasped his face in my hands and I told him, I told him that he is not weak like he thinks he is, that he is strong, the strongest soul I have ever seen, that his strength is in his heart and to never, ever, ever forget it.”

At this point Shinsei stood up abruptly, his hands resting firmly on the table

“There is more. You are all aware of my main reason as to why I came to the mura village. It’s the chess tournament organised by the Minamoto family. We all know it's a power move to show off his prodigious son. What if I told you, and I firmly believe this, that Suliko is an even bigger prodigy? I played with him a couple of times. His growth rate is unlike I’ve ever seen before. In under a week he is close to surpassing me, in two more I’m sure he can take anyone including Shingan’s son. He is a sensation.”

He looked my father dead in the eyes.

“You are on the chief committee of organisers for this tournament, please for our friendship's sake, pull some strings, let Suliko take my place, give this kid a chance to win the 100 gold piece prize money and change his life. If there is a single person in this world that deserves happiness it’s him.”

With this he bowed his head abruptly, almost slamming it on the table and remained still until, dear reader, my parents gave in and gave him their word that they would help.