Chapter 18: Akai (Red) Kami (God)
Today is a normal day for Akaigami.
Early in the morning, when he heard the alarm clock, he pushed open the cover of his metal bed from inside. After that, Than he went out and closed the big lid again. Although the bed is different from other people's beds. Like a large box with an embossed figure of a man sleeping with his arms folded. In other words, people who come to the small Shinto shrine where Akaigami lives often offer prayers to the statue.
"Wh..." Akaigami's hair was as red as blood. No normal person in the world has that kind of hair. His appearance is about twenty years old. But the people at the shrine said that he came with the statue. The statue fell from the sky.
It was during the Boshin War, when the Emperor's faction and the shogun's faction were fighting. One night when the clouds were clear, a large meteorite fell to earth. And it fell on the border between the territory of the Emperor's army and the shogunate's.
Full of curiosity, both groups went to the crater valley where the meteor had fallen. There, they found a large embossed box with what appeared to be a standing handcuff made of an unknown metal. The sarcophagus is a bit like the coffins used to put the pharaohs. But the only problem is that it is very hard. No one could open it.
The Tokugawas and the Emperor's faction sacrificed five hundred people to get the statue. Finally, Meiji Emperor got it, and while looking at the statue, he exclaimed that fate is on his side. The problem is that the Meiji Emperor was not that devoted to Shinto. He just wanted to brag to the public that he was the real ruler of the country because he was the owner of a divine figure that fell from the sky. After bragging, he was let loose at a century-old shrine on the outskirts of Tokyo. Even after the war, he was not interested in moving to Izumo.
It is a blessing for the people of the shrine. Their shrine has not had a dedicated spirit for a long time. During the war, the statue of the original god was lost. So, while there was no deity to worship, the famous deity arrived.
So they gave him the title of god who fell from the sky and worshiped him. The statue has been in the century-old shrine for almost two hundred years. And so, on the day of the next fall of many meteors, an extraordinary event took place.
Koromi was a Mikoto since she was a high school student. That year, she was promoted as a new head of the shrine. When she heard the news about the powerful meteors, she wanted it too. Like one of the famous animes of that era, she went to the god with the desire to get powers. The statue of a god falling from the sky. That day there was a rain storm and lightning was shooting everywhere. Even the shrine yard was damaged by lightning.
After worshiping according to the tradition, the statue of the deity began to shake like crazy with a rattling sound. Koromi was also scared to death. But after about five minutes, the statue box opened and a man came out.
"Ah..." The Temple maiden's voice covered the entire divine arena.
In addition to coming out of a god form, he also had red hair and unusual powers, so people named the man Akaigami, Red God. That man is quite strange. He doesn't seem to be able to speak and doesn't seem to remember anything. Koromi got a new job as a Maiden Head to teach their god about japanese language.
The young man is very intelligent. Within a few days, he started talking, and the first words he said were...
"There is someone to find..." But the word is still not broken. It seems that he still finds it difficult to speak fluently. "Fire...hot..." "Water...drinking." "The road.... I'm going there." He could not form a sentence and would only string two words together.
The peculiarity is that Akaigami does not sleep in the bed prepared for him. He would return to his statue every night and sleep inside. When he wakes up in the morning, he starts chewing all the bread offered to the idol. Mooncakes and mochi cakes are all usually stuffed into his mouth. People in the shrine can't tell him bad as he was worshiped as a god.
Thus, ten years after the founding of the Hero Association by the first generation of heroes, Akaigami had become a regular person and was able to move around like a normal person. The temple maiden Koromi still called him the "red god". But the longer it takes, the more amazing it is. The god is very good at physics and mathematics and is also very good at martial arts. Also can control flames. As far as Koromi knew, even the great founders of Heroes Association were not as powerful as him. Another problem is that the red god is already using the money from the temple's treasury. buy and eat ice cream as he want, be used to play with children big and small. Drawing on the walls. During those years, he behaved like a big child. The shrine also let him do as he want to please their god.
One day, the temple was destroyed by an earthquake. Shinto monks have also died. Twenty years after the Hero Age, many religions, including Shinto, have faded away.They also suffered that fate. Just when Koromi thought the temple was about to be destroyed, their god went to the hero association and registered. Then he became Japan's second S-rank hero. With the money from that, he repaired the shrine. In this case, their evil child god is dependable. Now she can speak confidently, Because he has become an Idol hero that every girls likes, there are also girls who come to pray him at the shrine. But did they come to pray to the red god? She don't know if they just want to flrit her god or not. There were many girls who came to confess, but their god always sent them all home. It's just that there's a person to be found every time.
But after a few years, an accident happened. Returning from a mission, their god was severely injured and lost his powers.
He was removed from his S-rank position, and there were no more people coming to the temple. Their god has been abandoned. That night, the red god was sitting on the altar of their temple all night. He seemed depressed.
After all these years, Koromi has also grown old. Too old to do shrine chores. But their god is young and hasn't changed a bit. Koromi have known the red god for over thirty years. But instead of the childish god who was always so easygoing as a child, now she only sees a god who is always sullen.
This morning, Koromi, now an old grandmother, was cleaning the statues in the main temple. As usual, Akaigami got out of the statue box and picked up some of the bread from the tray for his statue. But because there is so little, it doesn't filfull his belly. He looked at the old lady.
"Great deity, not many worshipers came yesterday, so there is only a little bread."
"There is no problem..." In fact, this god is just going down because he has a habit. He has good limbs and is now working. But the old lady of the school maiden still seems to be saddened by the matter. 'Because I can't feed the god enough, he has to go for work. I have blackened the face of the family.'
In fact, Akaigami Kaito is taking care by this old grandmother. For fifty years, he had to rely on this lady's family. When he first came out of the statue, he still didn't know much about the human world.
Some humans are cruel to him. Some were kind to him. Ten years ago, he saved the world. He was able to do something big that other S ranks were hoping to do, but he lost all of his power. Before he knew it, those who were protected by him had neglected and forgotten him. However, the family of the Temple still treats him like a god.
Kaito actually doesn't remember himself at all. All he remembers is to find someone, and he only knows that someone is a girl. Although he is extraordinary and has lived for hundreds of years, it is too much of an exaggeration to call him a god. As the most obvious example, he could not fulfill people's prayers.
He just lives longer than normal people and is more powerful. But now there is no more power.
"After I get dressed, I'm going to work. Is Yusa-chan awake? I'll send her to school."
"God, you don't have to do that. I'm just going to send the granddaughter myself."
The red god glanced at the old lady. The old lady did not dare to continue.
"Can you stop calling me a god? I'm just a normal person like you guys."
'Is it because ordinary people don't age even if they live for two hundred years?' The old lady wanted to scream, but because of deity, she didn't know how to say it.
Yusa-chan is Grandmother Koromi's granddaughter. Parents no longer exist. She lost his parents in an accident caused by a group of villains. The little girl was waiting in front of the shrine with a pink bag. When Kaito came outside after showering and changing, she immediately started running.
"Kaminii-sama... Will you take me to school today?"
"Well..." The boy's face, which was always sullen, fell a little. He patted the head of a ten-year-old girl with side-parted black hair.
"Why is Divine Brother working part-time at a fast food restaurant? There are people who pray to Divine Brother and make offerings. Are you saving money to get a wife?"
"Fu..." A young man who was drinking water from the water tank in front of the shrine spat out all the water with a wooden handle. 'Certainly, those who cleanse themselves with shrine water in order to make the evil witches disappear will receive additional spit from their god.'
"But... I don't want to become dependent on your family."
Kaito is a man with great limbs. He has pride. He don't want to live with the money from that people who worship to him. And he don't make a lot of money that way.
Smiling brightly, the little girl came close to Kaito and bowed.
"My divine brother, I wants to eat ice cream today."
"Well...I have to get it."
While making sure Grandma Koromi didn't see him, Kaito took some five-yen coins from the temple's treasure box.
"Hehehe, you said you don't use shrine money."
"Huh... The money from this temple is offered to the great god Akaigami. I don't want to go down for free because of my pride, but a child wants to eat ice cream, so I can't help but to spend it."
"Alright... Kaminii-sama.."
....
"I got it."
After adding the last can of fried fishes to sell, Kaito went into the dressing room and changed back into his part-time uniform. When he was a hero, he opened the adventure with this face without wearing a costume, but after more than ten years of retirement, no one remembers him. Pulling the bag with a piece of fried fishes that the manager had put in, He went back on his way with four pints. On the big neon TVs in Tokyo where his name and picture had been in the past, only Usaki's picture, the third generation S rank, was in place. People are like that. They forget easily. In fact, he himself has forgotten many things these years. he didn't recognize the face of the old monk who is the father of Koromi. It's been a long time since he died. He also doesn't remember his fellow heroes. Some died in the missions, Some have retired like him.
Kaito can bond easily, but when someone dies or left from his life, he tend to forget that person very quickly. I don't want to be sad every time he remembers. He once had a girl colleague who fell in love with him. But in one mission, she got caught up in a train bomb set up by the villians. Kaito, ever since that girl died, he has developed a habit of quickly forgetting whenever people leave his side. Even if Grandmother Koromi, the shrine maiden, died, he would completely forget about her and pretend she never existed.
The only way to get rid of sadness is to forget. Sometimes he thinks too. His previous memories were lost because of sadness. How sad it must have been to forget the whole of life. But there is a matter that he still not forgot. To find that girl.
In his dreams, he always dreams of a girl with long hair and a blurred face. But how will he find out if he can't even see the face and hair color for sure? All he knows is that the person he will be looking for is a girl.
"Hey..." A small voice came from behind. Kaito, who was walking with his eyes like a dead fish, stopped for a moment and continued without looking back. But a small hand was already hanging on his shirt.
"Hey...you're the former S rank hero Akaigami, aren't you?"
"Huh..." Kaito turned around in disbelief. A ten-year-old girl holding a Pokemon-like hero card with her sleeve hanging up behind her. On the hero card, there was a picture of a young red-haired boy standing in the middle of a flame lotus. Ten thousand fighters It is described as having six thousand resistances and a flame god scale that can burn everything. The girl's hair is golden. Her eyes are reddish-brown. It seems to be a little girl. It has a cute and innocent look. At the same time, the whole body was shaking and seemed helpless.
'There is someone remember that I'm a former hero?'
The little girl's face is like the rain that is about to fall. She immediately knelt on the floor and bowed until her forehead touched the floor.
"Please accept me as a disciple."
"Why?" Kaito asked back with big dead fish eyes.
The little girl raised her head. "I want to be a hero better than my sister. Please train me."