Chapter 52

Tanyuu took one last look at the first beach she had ever seen. He did not tell her so, but she knew Ginko deliberately took that route. Moist sea breeze picked up a strand of her hair, fluttering in her face. She tucked it back behind the ear. It was such moments as this that Ginko found all but impossible to take his eye off her. She suddenly turned to him and said「とてもいい経験になった。ありがとなギンコ」"it was a great experience. Thanks Ginko." He wanted to say something smart, but drew a blank again. Instead he replied 「具合どうだ?ここらに着いて以来症状出てきてねえか?」"how have you been feeling? Any sign of distress?" She shook her head and opined 「本当に耐性でも付いてきたのかしら?それとも潮風のせいかもね」"I wonder if I'm really building tolerance. Or maybe it's the ocean."

The beach came to its end at a sharp cliff. They turned back and found an old path up that hill. From there onward the environs grew more and more inhospitable.

By the late afternoon of that day they reached a dank woods, thick with dying trees. There they spotted a structure.

At first Ginko wondered what an idiot would put a hut where animals were scarce. He guessed it must have been before kyoumyaku changed its configuration, as it sometimes did. It was nearing dusk. Even a dirty hut was better than no shelter. His mistake was letting Tanyuu step in before him.

「ひっ!」"ee!" she gasped at something. She instinctively backed off, which caused her to fall. Ginko crouched to help her up and saw what startled her.

Skeletal remains of a child lay within, no longer in its original arrangement. Its size suggested eight years of age or thereabout. Tanyuu was unable to take her eyes off the grizzly sight. Ginko gingerly pulled her back. Her teeth began to chatter. This was a sight he had run into occasionally, but a new and shocking one for her. He kept a firm hold on her until her trembling subsided.

She knew it would be selfish of her to request they bury the bones. It broke her heart nonetheless. 「気の毒にな。孤児だったんだろう」"poor kid. Must've been an orphan" Ginko speculated. At these words the reality of his past dawned upon her heart heavily. 「気休めにもならんだろうがよくある事さ」"this won't make you feel any better but this is common" he added. They walked on awhile longer for a suitable spot to set camp. The sun was setting. He was walking on the west side of her. He knew her well enough to see something was changing within her.「世の中がこれ程不公平なのは何故だろうな。大名の連中は庶民から税金うんと取っておきながらその子供らが孤児になってもおかまいなし、だ」"why is the society so unfair? The upper class squeeze every penny out of everyone below but they care nothing about their orphans" she said. The flat tone she said it with disturbed Ginko. 「さあな」"dunno" he replied, wishing he had something comforting to say. Nothing came to mind. He almost wished she would just cry. He could have at least comforted her then. In any event what she said next was not at all expected.

「お前が付けてくれた私のお伽噺の終わりに出てきた帝の事、何も話していなかったよな?」"I never told you about the 'king' in your ending of my story, did I?"

Ginko blinked. She went on. 「帝、はな、実は出家されて今は坊さんなの」"the Mikado, is really a monk. He swore the family off and joined a religious order."

「私が八つの年だった。母上は私を生む出産が難産でその併発症で亡くなられた。多分その悲しみにお心を持ち崩されたのであろう。もう十五年程逢っていない」"he left the year I turned eight. My mother died giving me birth, and I think his grief crippled him. I haven't seen him in fifteen years." Ginko listened but still could not see the connection. She knew that. 「あえて言えば私のお爺様が事実上の父親役だ。だが一つだけ困るのはその二年後異国の幕府の研修とやらで出国された以来音沙汰も無い」"so that makes my grandfather my de-facto parent. But the problem is that he left the country. I heard he left to study a foreign government. No communication since." She paused. 「どの異国かは知らんがその国では武士も農民も階級のない誰もが平等の社会だそうだ。私の推測に過ぎないが、深い訳がある様だ。多分誰かお爺様にとって大切な物を犠牲にされたのではないかと思う」"I don't know what country it is, but their society has no strata. All is equal there. And it's just my guess but I think he sacrificed something important to him." 「ならずの恋」"love that should never to be" he completed her thought, though she did not know it herself. 「え?何?」"what did you say?" 「ならずの恋。お前の爺さん、身分違いの愛人でもいたんじゃねえか?」"I said 'love that should never be.' Sounds like your grandpa had a lover from lower class." 「そうね」"maybe" she answered. 「遺伝かねえ」"it must be hereditary" he said with a teasing smirk. 「え?遺伝って何が?」"what? What's hereditary?" she inquired. 「身分違いの馬の骨に惚れるのが、さ」"falling for someone from lower class" he replied, half teasingly. At that she hoped the sunset hid her blushing. 「その理由が以前は理解できなかったけど、たった今解った様な気がする」"I don't think I understood why he wanted to do that until just now" she admitted, which completed her thought. 「誰もが平等な社会、か」"a society where everyone's equal, you say?" Ginko mouthed. He had to admit that idea was novel to him. But not an unappealing one, and very unachievable.

Shortly after that conversation they reached a site much like the river bank where they camped before. And the next night, and the night after that. Each day they neared Kamakura. Each night they feared the past weeks were the happiest time of their lives in each other's embrace.