Finale part 1: Soldier

Instead of waking up to Oliver’s worried face hanging over me, I found myself in a strangely recognizable environment. A twelve tatami room with a low black table in the middle, and two steaming cups of tea on it. A gushing stream of panic started to well up in my stomach as I looked through the sliding door that made up one of the walls; a lush green garden with a koi pond was visible outside. Somewhere out of sight a bamboo water spitter tapped a rock.

Did I get transported back to Japan after touching that toe? Is this the end? Will I never see Oliver again?

The panic overflowed and tears began to form in my eyes. So it was all over, huh. Lost in thought as I was, I’d failed to notice I wasn’t alone in the room.

Before me a man in a military uniform patiently sat with this legs crossed, his elbow resting on his knee with his hand supporting his chin. The uniform was spotless and unwrinkled, as if he were wearing it for the first time. The man introduced himself with a genuine smile.

“Welcome, Chiyo Arata. It’s been far too long since I spoke Japanese to anyone, so it’s good to finally meet you. You can call me Soldier, but you’ll probably already know me under a different name.”

I should’ve been glad to meet someone from my country after a long time, but my thought process was seriously disturbed by the realization that this was the end of our journey. I fought through the tears to rack my brain.

“I-I don’t know…”

Soldier grimaced. His monkey-like face wrinkled deeply as he balled his fist. “They call me the Devil. Can you imagine it? It’s a name given to me by people who understand nothing and those who benefit from this cursed status-quo. It’s really true that the victor writes the history books. Anyway, enough of my contemplations. I’m glad you found me.”

“I found you?” I hadn’t found anyone, though. One moment I was dreaming of my next life as a millionaire with the gold from the shrine box, the next moment I’d been here.

“Precisely. I no longer physically inhabit this world, but the residual magical power on my body parts is enough to pull you over to this inner realm of mine for a short time. Had you touched my toe at the shrine my devout followers built when you first arrived, we could’ve had this conversation a lot earlier.”

The stress from thinking I was back in Japan ebbed. If I was trapped in his inner realm, there might still be a way to go back to Oliver. I quickly wiped the tears and recollected myself to come up with a fitting retort.

“I usually don’t go around touching random creepy toes, I feel like that’s the smarter option.”

Soldier nodded understandingly, without a hint of noticing the sarcasm that my sentence was dripping with.

“Fair enough. But let’s cut to the chase. I wanted to meet you because I feel like I owe you an explanation for everything that’s been happening to you. But for that I’ll have to start from the beginning.”

Great, another backstory. This is not what they call “cutting to the chase”, Cosplay Guy.

I kept that thought to myself and sat down to listen to his tale. Soldier began reminiscing.

“My story begins and ends in the sixteenth year of the Showa era.”

I counted the years of Showa on my fingers. 1941. In other words, this dude was old as hell.

“If there’s one thing I never could stand, it was injustice. In elementary school I stood up for the bullied and weak. When the village kids took up to torturing animals to stave off boredom I beat them up to the point they would never consider harming another living creature again. That’s why I was all the more shocked when I was conscripted into a war I didn’t believe in. I tried everything to get out of service, but in the end it was all for nought and they sent me off to the Philippines to expand the Empire. Refusing to shoot the enemy, I was quickly gunned down in battle. Whether it was friend or foe who killed me, I couldn’t tell you.”

I felt bad for him, but that didn’t explain anything yet. In fact, him dying over 80 years ago and still sitting in front of me looking very much alive made it all the more confusing. I impatiently rocked back and forth, waiting for him to continue talking.

“Instead of passing on, I heard voices speaking to me. I’m convinced the Gods of this world were directly communicating with me in that moment. I was promised a second chance in a world of swords and sorcery because of the pious and moral life I’d lived. If I ever wanted to return to Earth, I needed to possess another’s heart and soul to cross the boundary. I assume they were talking about falling in love.”

I’d fallen in love with Oliver, and our feelings were mutual, so why wasn’t I getting a “Get-beamed-up-to-Earth” pop-up window? To be honest, I didn’t believe a single word coming out of his mouth. I voiced my doubt.

“What does falling in love have to do with returning to Earth? It doesn’t make a lick of sense!”

Soldier didn’t mind the interruption. He contemplatively looked at the koi pond before answering.

“Who knows… it’s something you’ll have to ask the Gods of this world. It’s a mystery to me as well.”

“Another mystery to add to the pile..." I'd taken too much on my plate, "Arranging a meeting with them will be pretty difficult, I imagine. Anyway, how did you turn from a pacifist into a man feared across the world?”

“I was rewarded with overwhelming magical abilities and other blessings, and set out to explore this new world. What I found appalled me. Power-hungry aristocracies oppressed the populace and kept them uneducated and weak. Women barely had any rights, save for the privileged few like daughters of village chiefs. This was not a world I wanted to live in. ‘Is this some kind of sick joke?’, I thought. It was in that moment that I had the choice between finding love and going back to Japan, or putting everything on the line to bring justice to this rotten world.”

“And so you went to war with the entire world, killing an untold number of people in the process? Some morals you have there. That just sounds like plain old hypocrisy to me!” I couldn’t keep my impatience and anger in check any longer. “Your power corrupted you and you didn’t even notice, you’re the worst.”

Soldier rose to his feet with an angry scowl.

“My quest is one of JUSTICE. I agree that some things went wrong, but I never strayed from the path of changing this world for the better. Had the old powers not brainwashed the people, I would have created a world in which justice prevailed."

I also got up. I couldn’t believe what this idiot was spouting without any regard for reality.

“What the hell are you saying? You only increased the misery in this world by half-assing your quest for ‘justice’. You never took this new world seriously in the first place.”

“You know nothing of my resolve!” Soldier grew increasingly agitated. He started unbuttoning his uniform and ripped it open to reveal his bare chest. A deep scar on the middle-left side formed two unmistakable characters.

軍人

Oh my God, I’m talking to a crazy person.

He bashed the scar with his fist as he continued his tirade. “I carved these words so I would never forget who I was: A Soldier of Justice. Day after day I toiled to make a change, and fought a war I never wanted. So don’t come at me with your criticisms when you know nothing of my pain!”

Soldier deflated back to a sitting position, exhausted from working himself up. He continued in a weak voice.

“But that’s all in the past. I lost, and I’ve been holding on to life in this inner realm for the past eight decades. But my lifespan is reaching its natural end, and that’s where you come in.”

“Oi, I’ve got nothing to do with your twisted ideals. I’m on the otherworldly adventure of my dreams right now with the man I love. Keep your Holy War in the past where it belongs.”

Soldier sighed. “I take it you’ve never seen your own ‘Devil’s brand’ before? I think you’d be surprised to know what’s written on it.”

With a snap of his fingers two standing mirrors appeared out of thin air, allowing me to see my back. The backside of my shirt grew transparent until I could clearly see the brand on my shoulder. I couldn’t help but gasp. 

The pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place.