Sacomidzu Côyen (Sacomidzu Park)

“F—F—F—Fuku-chan?! Is this your…your…your boy—” began Cocoro-chan.

“Yeah, and that’s my girlfriend,” scoffed Fuku-chan. “We’re a whole set. Get real.”

“Ack! S—S—S—Sorry!” exclaimed Cocoro-chan with an obviously fake stammer, struggling desperately to stay in character herself.

“Who the hell let you guys backstage anyways, Ijyuin?!” said Fuku-chan, addressing Justo.

“Who else but myself?” the boy in question replied. Fuku-chan let out a deep groan as her palm smacked her forehead. Then she took a look at the girl standing next to him, raising one eyebrow as she scrutinized her.

“So, I’m guessing this is…”

“The case? Yep, the case.”

Fuku-chan sighed again. “This could’ve been a text message, Ijyuin. Or even an email.”

“Aw, but where’s the fun in that?”

“Nowhere, as far as procedure’s concerned.” Fuku-chan sighed one last time, and then shoved Justo towards the door, with Noe following him nervously. “Now, this is where it does turn into a text message. Get outta here! Shoo!”

* * *

Sacomidzu Park. In a past life this place had been known as Suizenji, a Zen Buddhist temple built on the idyllic plot surrounding a springwater pond. Generation upon generation of Satsumans had considered this a most ideal place for meditation and contemplation, and in the counterfact we know as history it would become a teahouse and Zen garden for the Hosokawa family, rulers of Kumamoto, as well as the site of a shrine revering the members of the Hosokawa family as gods (including, interestingly, one Christian).

But it was after Satsuma gained independence from Japan that the land of Suizenji underwent a most dramatic transformation, as the head of the Hosokawa (or Fosocava in Satsuman) family at that time converted to Christianity and ordered a church be built upon the grounds. Seeing in the springwaters the image of tears, he devoted this place to Our Lady of Sorrows; over time a sprawling garden would be made out of the surrounding land, containing images of the Stations of the Cross and the Seven Sorrows of the Mother of God which encircled the pond.

In the crypt of the church, now known as the Basilica of the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows, were buried many men and women of the Fosocava family, as well as one other important figure who gave his very name to this park today: Basilio Sacomidzu, Shogun and Supreme Chancellor of Satsuma from 1931 to 1957. It was he who, when the Emperor showed signs of failure in the face of international recession, seized the reins of the government and manifested Satsuma’s ascendancy, leading the nation through the Second World War and beyond.

While Sacomidzu’s regime has come under heavy scrutiny in the latter day for, as one historian put it, being “fascist in everything but name”, his assassination at the hands of Japanese People’s Army spies precipitating the invasion of Satsuma by Japan during the Cold War left him with the legacy of a martyr for the nation. So he was proclaimed at his very resting place, a place of his own choosing; at one end of Sacomidzu Park was a Pieta statue, depicting the Blessed Virgin cradling the body of her Son after being lowered from the Cross, and at the other end was a statue of Sacomidzu lying in state, surrounded by Satsumans from all walks of life.

Justo and Noe had come to the center of the park, on the shores of the still pond, where the statue of Sacomidzu felt inevitably closer because of its location “just across the water”. The Compline bells had long since rung out from the basilica’s tower, the last clamor of the night, and here were two students of St. Protasio in Seikyo still in their school uniforms. The former stood up straight with his arms crossed, a look of cool expectation on his face. The latter was a little hunched over, playing with her own hands and trembling like a leaf. Her eyes closed at intervals and she said not a word to her companion, perhaps engaged in prayer.

Under the light of the moon the surface of the waters glistened, but even this was not as radiant as the reflection of the massive katana stuck in the dirt. Noe was still afraid to touch the thing, or even to look at it directly, though likely for good reason. As before, Justo had carried it out here disguised as a slab of cement, but in this place it was fully exposed.

Suddenly another noise broke through the clear of the night: the sharp clicking and clacking of heels on stone. Both Justo and Noe were compelled to look over to the bridge from which the sound came. There was a lady whose white hair was played upon by the stars, whose eyes were as clear and blue as the waters; she had on loose jeans, a dark top which exposed her midriff, a light jacket of the same color whose only purpose seemed to be to frame her neckline with mink, fingerless gloves, and open shoes which set her about two inches higher.

Yes, this was Fuku-chan, but it was not the same Fuku-chan who had had such a lively but dignified presence back at Kumamoto A-LiVE. All the energy and radiance was gone from her, leaving only an icy, stoic personage; her true personality. Once she was within earshot of the two Satsumans, she spoke up.

“I can’t believe you’ve still got the statue of that guy here.”

“Who, Jesus?” quipped Justo coyly. “That’s a little rude, hey?”

“You know who I mean. My great-grandad was killed during that war.”

“Eh, what can I say? He might ‘a put a lotta people to death, but he wasn’t a horrible leader, y n’ah mean?”

Fuku-chan scoffed. “What do you think, Satsuman #2?”

Noe perked up, taking a moment to confirm that this girl was indeed speaking to her.

“I—I’m not really into politics and history and stuff, but…my dad likes him a little too much.” She gave a nervous chuckle, then tried to get the conversation a little more on-target. “My name’s Noe, by the way.”

“Noe…?”

“Oh! Numasaki. Noe Numasaki. And y—”

“Right, Numasaki,” interrupted Fuku-chan. “Looks like Ijyuin was onto something. This is a case for us.” She seemed to stare a little bit beyond Noe as she said this.

“Damn straight!” boasted Justo. “Exhibit A: otherwise-innocent girl experiencing violent outbursts and complaining about seeing dead people. Exhibit B: mysterious three-foot sword that popped outta nowhere and is crazy destructive.”

“Exhibit C: ten-foot-tall wild man standing behind her?”

“BWUH-HAH?!?!?!” Noe jumped in terror and tumbled to the ground while looking to see the figure that had apparently shown up behind her. Seeing none, she got a teensy bit flustered.

“Y—YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!” she yelled. “Are you the person who’s supposed to help me or not?!”

“Ahh,” said Fuku-chan cooly, her hand up to her chin. “She can’t see it herself, can she?”

“Hello—?”

“Well, ‘wild man’ might be a bad descriptor. He looks like he could be a ronin, a masterless samurai of old.”

“Who are—”

“Either way, he’s definitely an onryo. No yokai, oni, or majin would take that kind of form.”

“EXCUSE ME!!”

Fuku-chan caught Noe flailing her arms as she exclaimed this. She was a little surprised, seeing a small and timid-looking girl like her get so angry, even if it didn’t really register as anger to her.

“Huh,” she remarked. “You were certainly right about her having outbursts too, Ijyuin.”

Noe, indignant, got up to her feet, wiped the dirt off her skirt, and stomped over towards the off-duty idol.

“Listen,” she began, “I was hoping you could explain what’s actually going on with me, or what you’re even here to do, but apparently that was expecting too much! Just ‘cause I’m possessed by a demon or an on-myo-ji or…or whatever you all wanna call it, means you think you can blow me off like I’m some kinda pariah or something?! At this rate, I don’t think I even want your help!”

Fuku-chan simply sighed again.

“That’s the whole damn point. Our mission is to keep incidents like this from getting out of hand. The less you know here, the better. Now, if you need me to knock you unconscious so you stop—”

“Hooold it, Sachi,” interrupted Justo, coming up behind Noe and resting his hand on her shoulder. “I think the donzera’s got the right idea.”

Noe felt a little miffed at Justo calling her a donzera again, but she wouldn’t stop him from sticking up for her. Also, Sachi? Come to think of it, that was what Justo had called the person on the phone. And "Fuku" didn't make much sense as an actual name. At any rate, Sachi was equally miffed at Justo’s words.

“For the last time, it’s—”

“Sachiko Godoh,” said Justo, cutting her off again and addressing Noe. “She’s an onmyoji, someone who deals in, ah…a wide range of things we’d call ‘paranormal’. Guess you could call her a court magician? She does work for the government, after all.”

“The—The government?!” exclaimed Noe.

“Japanese government, obviously. Oh, I work for the Satsuman government, by the way.”

“Huh?! Wait, so why are you working—”

“Workin’ together? ‘Think that’s a story for after we get you exorcised. Sachi’s lookin’ a little impatient, after all.”

Sachi winced.

“Please call me Godoh Senpai,” she strained.

“Ee-right. So Godoh Senpai here specializes in magic that identifies and deals with evil spirits. Most of the other roles of the onmyoji are pretty outdated, after all. Fortune-tellin’, disaster-predictin’, time-keepin’—hell, you can get a computer to do all that stuff these days. But computers can’t fight demons…not yet, anyways.”

Sachi winced again.

“What?” asked Justo. “I’m just sayin’. Once we get robots powered by Exorcism AI (TM), y’all are gonna be out of a job.”