Per 
January 5th, 1926
Nakano, Tōkyō
“… … nijiryūnyo uichihōju kejikisanzendaisekai jiijōbutsu bussokujushi ryūnyoichishakubosatsu sonjasharihotsugon gakonhōju sesonnōju zejishippu tōgon jinshitsu nyogon inyojinriki kangajōbutsu busokuoshi, tōjishue kaikenryūnyo kotsunenshiken henjōnanshi gubosatsugyōsokuōnanpō mukusekai zahōrenge jōtōshougaku sanjūnisō hachijisshugō fuijippō issaishujō enzetsumyōhō.”
Fluent reading of sutra stopped abruptly. The man closed scripture and called into the darkness.
“Who's there?”
The silent darkness revealed the figure of a woman. A dagger in her hand gleamed chilly. He got a sight of it and spoke in a calm tone.
“How could you step in here?”
“Everybody fell asleep. You and I are the only awake people in this residence right now.”
“I think I should replace those guards.”
With his arms folded, shaking head from side to side, he clicked his tongue.
“Who sent you? Uchida? Minoda?”
“Neither of them.”
“Not surprising. More than two want to see my death.”
“Tonight, I only came to warn you. However, if you turn a deaf ear to my warning, the second visit may be bloodshed.”
“Come closer. Let me see your face.”
He said, sliding the woman in the darkness a look. Only his left eye rolled to follow the movement of the head. The right eye was at standstill. A moment of silence. The woman stepped out of the darkness. Her red eye became exposed under the incandescent bulb. A smile flickered on his face.
“Some of your minions tried to infiltrate into the Anomalous Matters Examination Agency. You can play at soldiers with company officers and thugs as you please. But you will not die a natural death unless you stay away from something you shouldn't meddle with.”
“You are not with that Agency, are you?”
“Do you know me?”
“I was waiting for you.”
Her dagger pointed him already.
“Did you read any Agency memorandum about me?”
“Not only that one. There were so much intriguing contents, so I had an all-night reading.”
“It seems that my warning was too late.”
“Is there any reason why I should not know about them?”
“The man with dangerous thought, just like you, steps into this side of the world, many people would get in danger.”
“Dangerous thought? Huh! I never imagined that I could hear something that the censors in the Ministry of Interior or the detectives in the Special High Police would say from Korean.”
“Abolishing democracy and concentrating power to the Emperor. Isn't that a dangerous thought or what?”
“That's not important right now.”
He got up from his seat, with his Chinese dress billowing. And took out a bottle of sake and two shot glasses from a cupboard. He went back to the table and offered her a seat.
“Sit. Isn't your legs tired?”
She sheathed her dagger and sat facing him, after short hesitance.
“Okay. What the hell plot do you have in your mind? You waited for me?”
“The Examination Agency is planning to venture a felony. It must be stopped, and I need a help to stop it. So I intentionally left a trace for you, after reading Agency momoranda about you.”
“Felony? What felony?”
“The fact that the Emperor or his family are not gods is not to on the Agency. They know it better than anyone. The Kokutai of Empire of Japan is based on the Emperor Worship, and it's fate is never to be completed. Because the Emperor is not a god.”
“Stop going around the bush and get to the point.”
She growled, pointing a dagger at him.
“They are trying to make the Emperor into a real god. And we need to stop it.”
August 19th, 2020
Japanese perimeter of Wonderer's Library
The nine-tailed fox tried to dismantle a dog collar desperately. However, only a sigil inscribed on the collar glowed red and the collar stood as fir.
“Welcome, Dinodon's Hand. I am Ishida of Shimahebi-no Hand. I've told that you put suppressive charm onto her. Is this collar the thing?”
“No, it's just like a straitjacket. Charms are driven into her body and block five points of her magic circuit. Since we have arrived, it seems ok to remove that dog collar now.”
Hoya indicated Yi Yeon, standing beside her. Yeon stretched her hand to the nine-tailed fox's neck. The fox growled, baring her teeth. Hoya snapped her finger, and the fox passed out after twisting herself. Yeon removed the collar.
“Make a new woman of her. And contact me when you think it is completed.”
“Do not worry.”
“By the way, why the number of people is so small here? I think your group wasn't so small.”
“The identity of Kakure-shogun hostile to Hands have been revealed. So our guys went out to purge him. He was a president of the study group of Kita Ikki's thought within a local university.”
“Kita. What a name I haven't heard in a long time.”
“Hoya-san had seen him in person, right? That "Demogorgon of the North"(Kita-no maō).”
“Well, yes. Though I used another name at that time. And I called him Kita-kita sensei.”
“Kita Ikki, the man executed by firing during the February 26th Incident?”
Yeon said. Hoya noded, holding a cigarette holder between her lips.
“Yes, He was executed 83 years ago today. What an odd coincidence.”
“What kind of person was he?”
January 5th, 1926
Nakano, Tōkyō
“Tell me why I should trust you. Weren't you an Emperor worshipper who argues that the diet must be closed and absolute power should be given to the Emperor?”
“What do you think the Japanese Emperor is?”
“Are you asking that, even if you know that I'm Korean?”
“Then let me ask in other words. What do Japanese people think their Emperor is?”
“Arahitogami. The god in the form of human. You think so too, don't you?”
Bursting into a laugh and looked into her directly.
“It is true that I admire Meiji the Great. However, it is not because I think he was a god or something. And the current imperial family is nothing but a lair of mooching wakatono-tachi. Let's nail this down. The Emperor is a human. A human imprisoned within the palace and forced to be a god.”
A tiny convulsion slid on her face.
“Do you know what are you talking about?”
“Should I repeat? The Emperor is human. Eating, sleeping, urinating, living, breathing human. Worshipping a man as a god? What a tribal barbarism!”
“Then what is all that about your political arguments?”
“I told you, that is not important right now.”
“I'm telling you, I cannot trust you.”
“What a stubborn woman you are! First, read these.”
He took out some documents from the file of books nearby and handed it to her. The papers fluttered in her hands.
“The elixir of life. Eating the god. Dragon's blood. Chinese Alchemy…….”
“As you can see, most of them are to feed the Emperor something to make him into an immortal. Meiji the Great warded off these boondoggles. After the enthronement of Kinjō Emperor, the Agency made a start to put them into practice. However, none of their attempts was effective and Kinjō suffered so bad from their quackery that he had to lie in the sickbed. That's why the regency by the Crown prince began 5 years ago. Food poisoning is scary, isn't it?”
“I've heard that current Emperor is sure not to outlive this year. Were those attempts by his wish?”
“Never. Wakatono couldn't have any idea what poison he ate. So, the Agency now knows that this approach is no hope, thanks to using Kinjō as a guinea pig. And they choose different ways for the Crown prince, the future Emperor.”
He got back documents from her and showed other documents.
“So many projects they are plotting. For example, kidnapping Dalai Lama, and so on. Inter alia, the thing I note is this!”
“Project Ōnamuchi…….”
“In Japanese mythology, Ōnamuchi went to Neno-Katasuno-Kuni for his initiation rites, and after he came back, Susanōno-Mikoto, his father-in-law gave him new name Ōkuninushino-Kami, acknowledging him as a respectable god. The idea is from there. Giving the Emperor the name of god…….”
“Wait the fucking hell, this document is about that damned grove!”
“Now you know how serious this is, don't you.”
August 19th, 2020
Japanese perimeter of Wonderer's Library
“He was just a mere man,”
Blue cigarette smoke scattered into the air.
“who wanted to be a demogorgon.”
“What does it mean?”
“Literally what I said.”
January 5th, 1926
Nakano, Tōkyō
“Take them. I have copies.”
“Okay. Let's suppose I believe you. However, I still do not know why you give me this information. What is your true intention?”
“I see. For cooperation, we need to open our mind to each other. I know enough about you, so let me introduce myself to you.”
He filled shot glasses with sake.
“What do you know about me?”
“An extremist who seeks to abolish diet and concentrate all power to the Emperor. Once socialist, but turned coat after returning from the Chinese revolution. They say so.”
“Certainly, I abominate current Japanese democracy. It is true. But what I really want to destroy is not a democracy. It is something bigger than that.”
“What's that?”
“The Kokutai, which is maintained by the tribal Emperor worship, assuring only the interests of Zaibatsu and Gunbatsu, raking up the people. What I really want to destroy is that Kokutai. Democracy must be destroyed because it is a fence protecting the Kokutai.”
“Marx said that democracy is the way to socialism.”
“You are Korean, so I ask you. Did duke Itō invade Korea because he was a far-right anti-democrat? No. Itō was a liberal, a democrat, who institute the diet and party politics in Japan. And he was also an enlightened intellect who studied in England. After the March 1st riot, admiral Saitō, who was liberal was appointed to Governor-General of Korea. So did Koreans' situation become better? Never! It was the only change that civil servants stopped wearing a saber. Even if liberal democrats came to power in Japan, the agony of Koreans will never be ended. Because that is the essence of the modernized, westernized civilization they belove. That essence is the Imperialism, invading and despoiling the other nations to promote their own nation's interests! And it never changes no matter how liberal faction came to power in that nation. It was not Disraeli but Gladstone who invaded Egypt and cut a ribbon to Scramble for Africa. The Frenchmen call their nation a republic of liberty and equality, but do they allow that liberty and equality to the people of Vietnam? The democracy colluding with the imperialism is no different than the oligarchy, and this oligarchy is making Japan rotten currently. I will destroy it, and build a proper democracy.”
“Then what is the Emperor to you?”
“The Emperor is a tool.”
“A tool?”
“A tool for forcing my ideal to the people.”
“That means you do not trust the people?”
“Never underestimate the foolishness of the people. The socialist ideal cannot come true through their method in present-day Japan. Emperor worship contaminated the consciousness of the people for nearly 60 years. How it can be purified?”
“But the people are the only power that changes the world, and the world cannot be changed if we do not believe in them.”
“Do you remember the great Kantō earthquake 3 years ago? The pogrom was carried out after a rumor that Koreans had poisoned the water supply. The mob of rioters stabbed Korean with a bamboo spear, threw them into a river, suspended them to a motorcycle and rode to their death. Do you think all that many rioters were far-right thugs? Most of them were common Japanese people. The cabinet spread the rumor because they were afraid the complaints from the earthquake heading for the Emperor so that the Kokutai goes to collapse. And buffaloed people brandished a bamboo spear to Korean, who was their neighbor until the day before. That is the bare face of the people.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“The nation contaminated by the Emperor must be purified through the Emperor. Seizing the Emperor and being backed by his authority to enforce the socialist ideal to the people. Not to deny the myth, but to exploit it. If the Emperor assumes a title of god, I will be a demogorgon who will drag him down and make him a slave.”
“Whose slave? Your?”
“A slave of people. A vessel receiving the will of purified people, and existing only for that purpose.”
Her mouth dropped when she heard this big talk of him.
“Do your minions know your true color?”
“Of course not. and they don't have to know it.”
“Then why do you talk something like this to me?”
“Do you know Junsik Park-kun?”
“A Korean anarchist attempted to bomb your crown prince, in reprisal for Kantō pogrom. He is in prison now, isn't he.”
“He was a friend of mine. I think you can be a good friend like him.”
“I refuse. Your harangue sounds insane.”
“That's because I am the only sane man in this lunatic asylum named Greater Empire of Japan.”
“They say you are a fascist.”
“Please call me Ranshinzokushi who wants to walk down Ōdō.”
He wet his mouth with sake. She stared her shot down and emptied it at a blast.
“So I need to deter the projects of the Agency. When the Emperor or the Crown prince becomes a real god, the Kokutai will complete itself flawlessly and everything must be irremediable.”
“All right. At least we have the same intermediate goal, so I'm in for you this time.”
She raised her dagger high and made a downward blow on the table. The dagger deeply stuck into the table trembled its body.
“But don't try anything funny. We will watch you.”
“Good, good. Finally, we put a period at the end of Jo (序).”
He laughed good-humoredly despite her intimidation. And took out a paper from the file of the books to hand it to her. It was IJAMEA's personnel card.
“He is my minion infiltrated into the Agency. It was him who leaked these documents.”
“So what?”
“Kill him. In this kind of affair, the fewer people know, the better.”
