XIV. PREACHING BLUES
Their reckoning draws nigh to men,
and they turn away in heedlessness.
There comes not to them a new Reminder from
their Lord but they hear it while they sport,
Their hearts trifling. And they - the wrongdoers -
counsel in secret: He is nothing but a mortal like yourselves;
will you then yield to enchantment while you see?
Holy Qur'an, Sura 21, ayyat 1-3
The droning of ages past make the painted red wood resonate and shiver with fearful nostalgia. Paper leaflets hang on crusty old rope, decayed from being left out in the city air with no money to buy it new. Such is the life of the old religious folk. The temple grows old in the new age. Old age has come to it, and it's face wrinkles appropriately. Koitsumi walks into the shrine, observed by the spirits hanging from the rafters. Their whispers are threatening. With each of his steps, the wood creaks, and the sound of the outside becomes muted and distant. The walls are blocking it out. . As he reaches for the shrine, he sees the steel grating and the great tombstone. There is no more outside sound, only the pressure of silence. The bell's rope is new. The great wood strikes the metal and the sound makes every hair on Koitsumi's body stand up and make his heart skip a beat. He cannot turn his eyes away from it. It is... mesmerizing. There is nothing but the ringing of the bell.
"Who goes there?" a female voice calls.
"The Devil. Who wants to know?" Koitsumi returns.
"Your maker"
"I struck out for a reason. I mock you now as I did then"
"Jeez, you're dumb for coming in here"
"Teach me, o holy one"
A steel blade emerges from the shadows, barely missing Koitsumi's neckline, instead embedding itself in the wood pillar of the small temple shrine. Splinters fall to the ground as an old man rises out of the shadows. The top of his head is covered in patches of red, and his hands tremble on the hilt of the embedded blade. His eyes are wide. His whimpering is shouting in the silence of the temple.
"Oh, my..."
"A very eventful afternoon this one... am I right?"
"Oh, sir, I... I'm so sorry... it was all my mistake... a thousand pardons..."
"... There's no need..."
"... Oh, dear, please, sir, I didn't mean it, honest, I..."
"... I understand, it's quite alright..."
"... Please, don't do anything I'd..."
"Sir, sir, it's quite alright. It was a common misunderstanding"
"Can I offer you anything?"
"Oh, no, of course not..."
"I insist, sir"
"Truly, nothing at all"
"I insist"
"I must be going anyway..."
"Some coins, perhaps"
"Well... in that case..."
"GRANDPA!" a girl's voice cries out.
"Oh, damn it..."
"That's all the money we have left, what are you..."
The Sailor Soldier Rei's pace seizes. Her eyes are wide. They settle on Koitsumi's own.
"Good afternoon, my holiest"
"Get out"
"Rei, what is it?"
"Sir, I know your..."
"I said get out"
"Rei, how dare you treat a guest in this way?"
"Is she always like this?"
The tip of the sword is now inches away from Koitsumi's nose.
"Can you not hear me?"
"Rei... please, put that down... don't do anything drastic, I beg you..."
"Sir, it is fine; she does not want me here, I understand"
"Why do you continue to torment me, mappo?"
"Rei, you know this policeman?"
"Yes..."
"I know he is filthy and a devil. I warn you again, get out"
"Please, sir, for your own safety..."
"I hear the anger in your voice. Did my foot kick in a nail somewhere?"
"I will cut you down, pig"
"No, Rei, no!"
"Why do you not trust me? The others do so with enthusiasm"
"I will have no patience with a government demon"
"Oh, dear, oh my, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..."
"Rei... you fear me. I can feel it. I see it... what has happened here?"
"None of your business"
"They came here"
"Who?"
"Grandpa, be quiet"
"But Rei..."
"It's better to come out with it; trust me, it's on my resume: 'good listener'"
"You dare joke and tell lies in a holy place? You make me sick"
"The Police..."
"We came here?"
His head smashed against one of the many columns. The blade was cold. It was a lot like a shaving razor you have at the barber's. He could feel it pulling and cutting away the little hair that was left on his chin. Her chest pushed against his. Her breath singed the very soul within him with heat.
"You... your friends thought it would be funny to threaten me"
"What do you mean?"
She let go, walking towards the red of the sun. She was now covered in blood light, the requiem of light of forgotten spirits.
"Listen... it is better if you spoke..."
"When the riots started, I knew everyone would be affected. My... dear father, the great and noble politician, made a point to bend over for all that the Zaibatsu asked for. 'For the people', he said, 'everything is allowed; nothing is out of bounds'. That was his little slogan for the past two years.
"He blurted it out from every newstand, every speech podium. He asked so many favors from the CEOs and the owners and their officers... Soon, we were buried deep in a dank, dirty, political black hole. One day, they asked my father to pass a resolution. Whatever it was, it was so horrible, my father refused to vote for it.
"When it didn't pass, the... the MP showed up at the shrine. It was a raid of the festival of some sort. When some idiot old monkey asked what they were being frisked for, they beat him senseless and dragged him into a van. I locked grandpa in the closet and went out... Every filthy cop there turned to look at me. Each and every one. The chills I got then... I knew that they were after me. They grabbed me and they tied me to a chair and they... they started asking me things. Things I didn't know... They'd... they'd "tickle" me every time I got something wrong. They'd... they'd touch me... I wanted them to stop... They told me: the riots had already started. They overtook the shrine all of a sudden. The worshippers and the cops all fled, with the rioters after them. One cop was tossling around with one of the rioters... that man was crazy... he opened that cop's skull all over the wood. He wouldn't stop... That cop... that cop shot him. Then the cop stopped moving... and that man was screaming. It was his stomach... I couldn't move... he threw up all over me; threw up blood. He started..."
She was starting to break down.
"He started screaming to the winds... 'God isn't real. God doesn't exist. God doesn't care about us. God doesn't exist. God isn't real, he isn't real, he isn't real... He tossed me down..."
She was crying now.
"He... he got all of his blood on me... he died on top of me. Grandpa eventually got out the next morning and helped... but... Oh, God, I don't know what to think anymore..."
"Think about what?" asked Koitsumi.
"That man... he proved something to me. Nobody gives a s**t anymore... nobody gives a s**t anymore. It's not even about God; it's God, no God, good, no good, evil, no evil... people just don't give a damn anymore. At first, it made me sick to my stomach... but then it happened to me: I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't walk, I couldn't... couldn't stop crying. There wasn't anything to live for. That man... I hate him... I hate his ******** guts. I ******** hate him... DON'T TOUCH ME!"
Her grandfather had tried to take hold of her arm.
"No, I can't take it anymore! I won't take it, I won't! He's in my head... he's in my head. Why won't you take him out, why? Don't you get it, you stupid old man, God isn't real! You ******** bastards, you killed him!"
She was shouting to the winds.
"Kill me! ******** kill me too! I wanna die! I wanna die! Can't you hear me now? I'll die with you! How could you take it away... my faith... my faith was all I had. Come tear up the planks! This place is useless to you! Here, here!"
She broke through the wooden floor of the shrine. She began to throw the splinters to the street, tossing around her grandfather and Koitsumi.
"Use it for kindling! You've no use for morals, so ******** kill anyone that isn't useful. I wanna die... I wanna die... I'm useless... God, I'm useless to them... I'm useless"
She was on her stomach. Her grandfather hoisted her up to her thighs, and she wept in his sleeves. Koitsumi realized everything was under control. He walked down the street. She was right; the murmurs and chants had stopped.
"I always took you for a witch"
"You never were much of a holy man"
"Stand down. Your palace is surrounded. You're not going anywhere"
"You dare submit a holy place to a bloody siege?"
"Now that you've shut me away from the men, this won't be that bloody at all"
"You would stick me? I thought you loved me"
"Not you"
"So that letter you sent me was..."
"Not meant for you. After all, you haven't helped my political career"
"Then... it's..."
"Who knew someone had a better set of thighs?"
"Perhaps you'll get to enjoy them in the next life, pig"
The wall of fire gave way to a thick smog that made Torah hack and cough. The doors behind him splintered as the many soldiers subordinate to him smashed against them. Her strike was direct, powerful, graceful. With a jerk, Torah made Mars miss his heart, barely grazing his shoulder.
"You shouldn't have gone in before them" Mars spoke in his ear.
"You were expecting me to die?" responded Torah, smiling.
"No, I'm expecting you to suffer," She yanks at the scepter, stuck in the ground, held there by a foot and a sword.
"I always did like that about you: you weren't just warm, you were on fire"
"Or maybe you're just that cold and soul-less"
"Hmm... no, I'm quite sure you're just a wrathful little thing"
"I'm not a little thing. I'm not your thing"
"'Corpse' is a noun..."
She gave little gasps as her stomach was opened, inch by inch, by the dagger hidden underneath his belt. Her grip loosened. Her legs shook and then gave way. With his good arm, Torah set her down on the ground. He pulled the dagger out of her. With care, so as not to cut the skin underneath, he revealed her heart. The hand that held the scepter now covered it, shaking, closing into a fist.
"You damned sneak... Damn you..."
"Nouns are things, dear Mars"
"I'm not your thing... I'm not a thing..."
"You are a soldier; that is a noun, too"
"I'm not a thing... I'm not... I'm not your little thing, you b*****d"
"They made me do it"
She spits in his face. "You always were a bad liar"
He cleans the spot. "I'm not lying"
"Stop it..."
"Listen, don't talk..."
"Just do it already. I don't want to hear you speak"
"Please... speak to me"
"So... so you did love me"
"Who doesn't love you?"
"It has been forgotten"
"What has? What do you mean?"
"The past... the past is... gone to us"
"What do you mean? What past?"
"No stars. Nothing there... never... nev... never..."
"Make sense! What are you talking about?"
Her eyes fill with tears. "You made me forget"
"Forget what?"
"Kill me"
"Mars..."
"Kill me"
"I'm not done with you..."
"Yes you are"
"I..."
"KILL ME!"
She grabs the hand and pulls it to her chest with an unrivaled force. Torah struggles to pull it back up. Slowly, but surely, the dagger sinks low enough that flesh splits and tears. Her grip on the dagger crushes Torah's hand. Soot and blood mix beneath her. Torah releases himself, unable to breathe. The soldiers eventually breach. Her eyes stare at the ceiling. There is blood spreading throughout the chamber floor. Her hands remain clasped to the dagger. They remain that way well into the occupation of the planet.