Chapter Two - 1
Chapter Two
IV. 1989, A Library, Japan
1
Kimiyo woke up on a couch. As she sat up, the quilt that had been draped across her chest fell to the floor. She looked around. Tall bookshelves and office desks surrounded her. A large copy machine sat in the corner of the room, with a gray display and a computer sitting next to it. The wall calendar read December 1989. A red circle marked the 25th, but as far as she could remember, that wasn't the date.
She appeared to be in the library's office.
Kirisame, the librarian, was sitting right next to her. He had his head down and appeared to be dozing. As Kimiyo was looking at his face, he noticed her and woke up.
“Hey there, Kimiyo. You awake?” Kirisame asked in a sleepy voice.
“You're the one who just woke up, Kirisame.”
“I just fell asleep. I was dreaming. I don't remember what of, though.”
“I don't remember anything, either. I feel kind of sad.” Kimiyo picked up the quilt and folded it in her lap. “By the way, why was I sleeping in a place like this?”
“You collapsed after I took the dagger out of the storeroom. You quickly got back up and took your medicine. I said you should take a rest, and you lay down on the couch. Ever since, you've been doing your Sleeping Beauty routine, and I've played the role of your protective knight. In Japanese, I'm pretty sure we call that 'nursing'.”
“You were asleep.”
“Ah. I suppose something like that might have happened.”
Kirisame said that without sounding offended, which made Kimiyo laugh. Kimiyo leaned against Kirisame. As they leaned against each other, the room suddenly grew quiet, and the two of them on that couch were the only thing left in the world.
“I might like you, Kirisame.”
“That's rather sudden. What brought this on?”
“I don't care about why. No one really understands what's important in this world, anyway. Everyone just pretends to understand. Hey, Kirisame. You agree, don't you?”
“I do.”
“Hehe. But this actually isn't sudden. I've liked you for a long time now. I was just too embarrassed to tell you before.”
“But your destined partner isn't me, but that man named Kito. You're his lover.”
“I said I don't believe in reincarnation.”
“You also said you weren't interested in love.”
“Yeah. Guess I'm a liar.”
“We should head back to the front,” Kirisame said, getting up. “I'm still putting all my work on Utamika. If I don't start picking up the slack soon, she'll end up hating me.”
“I don't care if she hates you. I don't care if the entire world winds up hating you, Kirisame. I'd still stand at your side alone until the end.” Kimiyo tugged at Kirisame's sleeve. “Don't leave me.”
“I'm not leaving you. I'm just going to the next room.”
Kirisame walked out of the office. Kimiyo absentmindedly stroked the quilt for a while, then got up and followed him. When she left the office, the front desk was right in front of her. Kirisame and Utamika were sitting next to each other. Utamika turned to Kimiyo and looked surprised. She asked if she was okay. Kimiyo replied that she was.
“What about Miki?”
“Once she saw that you seemed okay she rushed home. I thought she had a date.”
“She told me she broke up with her boyfriend the other day.”
“So she has a date with her new boyfriend.”
“Where's the dagger?”
“It's being kept strictly controlled on a shelf in the office,” Kirisame said, crossing his legs. “I don't think I'll be telling you where, exactly. Of course, I won't tell Kito, either. If neither of you know where the dagger is, you can't go killing each other with it.”
“Even if we knew, we wouldn't kill each other.”
Kimiyo shrugged her shoulders.
“I did some research on the daggers,” Utamika declared, sounding rather proud of herself. “I'm already in a library, so I figured it couldn't hurt to check... oh, where did I put that book?”
“It's on your lap.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Here.”
Utamika placed a thick tome on the desk. It was bound in red and black, and the paper had completely discolored and turned sepia. The title was written in English in a unique font that Kimiyo couldn't read. Everything inside the book was also written in English. When she turned the pages, she saw there were illustrations of knives, swords, bows, and spears spread throughout the book.
“This is a book on ancient weapons. It was written in 1923 by a man named Henry Drake.”
“Utamika, can you read English?”
“I can. My degree is in English literature. Now, on this page, there's a picture that looks just like our dagger.”
Utamika opened to a page marked with a sticky note. On the upper left corner of the page there was a square frame containing a simple, unrealistic drawing of a dagger. It did look similar to the dagger Kimiyo had seen. However, that dagger had been coated in dust, so Kimiyo couldn't be sure they were a perfect match. English text surrounded the illustration. It looked like it had been printed with a rather poor printing press.
“The dagger we saw is called a quillon type, which were worn by a relatively large number of men in the middle ages for self-defense and as accessories. See here? The guard is in the shape of a cross. That shape was popular until around 1500. After that, it was developed into a type of left-handed dagger for catching the opponent's sword.”
“So they're common.”
“Yes, but if you read further, there's a section of text about a set of cursed quillon daggers. 'Six daggers belonging to a certain private order in France. Seven stars were engraved upon the handles.' Ah, what does this word here mean... Right! 'According to legend, the daggers bear a terrible curse, and so remain under the strict control of the government.'”
“Can't have been that strict if one of them wound up here,” Kirisame said with a sneer. “It'd be more accurate to translate it as 'seven-pointed star'. A star with seven points was engraved upon each of the daggers' handles.”
“Some kind of religious symbol?”
“I don't know. In religious iconography, you often see five- and six-pointed stars, but I haven't heard much about seven-pointed stars. Well, you said that 'a certain private order' used them, so maybe it was from their coat of arms.”
“Is there anything else written about the legend?”
“I'm sorry, but there's nothing else.”
“Nothing about the Six Headless Knights or the lord's daughter?”
“Nothing.”
Kimiyo gave up and backed down.
“Then I guess it's my turn.” Kirisame pulled another book out from under the desk. “Miki found these books and brought them to me.”
“Please tell me that's not just an atlas.”
“It's just an atlas.”
It was a huge book that looked like it was more than 40 cm square. Atlases are generally rather large. On the cover was an image of the Earth as seen from space. Kirisame flipped through the pages and stopped at a certain point. It was a map of the Languedoc region in southern France, facing the Mediterranean Sea. The sea was on the right side, and “Golfe du Lion” (Gulf of Lion) was written in large letters.
“North of Perpignan and east of Carcassonne, there's a mark of the ruins of a castle. That's Lapis Lazuli Castle, which has a dark history. A detailed description of Lapis Lazuli Castle can be found in this book.” Kimiyo looked at the map. Kirisame picked up a small paperback-sized book that contrasted sharply with the atlas. “Lapis Lazuli Castle was originally built by the Toulouse family, who at the time were as powerful as the King of France. The castle changed hands several times before falling into the control of a man named Geoffroy. He got involved in heretical religions and was executed as part of the Albigensian Crusade in 1243. The giant stone cross he built and Lake Sète, at the time popularly known as Cross Spring, were both destroyed, and now only ruins remain. Look at the map. See that unnamed lake? That lake originally connected to the Mediterranean Sea and bore the shape of a cross.”
When she looked to the west of the marker of the castle ruins, Kimiyo saw a small lake. It was shaped like a distorted square.
“Where do the Headless Knights fit into all this?”
“This next book is about the occult.”
Kirisame pulled yet another book from under the desk. The cover bore an ostentatious image of a smiling devil.
“It's funny. You can find everything you need under that desk.”
“Of course. It's a fourth-dimensional desk. The legend of the Headless Knights is in this book, although it's pretty sensationalized. 'Geoffroy was a demon who summoned monsters in his tower of evil and loved to feast on human corpses!' and such. Well, at least they got his name right. He attacked his own knights and daughter as part of a religious ceremony and cut off their heads. Incidentally, the heads of the six murdered knights plus his daughter add up to seven. I don't know if that's related to the seven-pointed star or not. According to history, Geoffroy was executed as part of the Albigensian Crusade, but it seems like we don't actually know for sure.”
“What Kito said wasn't a lie...” said Kimiyo. Her expression was complicated. “But I still don't know if reincarnation is actually real.”
“By the way, there was also a bit written about the daggers. 'The cursed daggers inflict a death beyond time. Their owners are cursed to suffer misfortune and death. There exist six daggers. Their current whereabouts are unknown. If you ever encounter one, you would be wise to stay away...'. The origin of the daggers is unclear. They were originally recovered from a church in Constantinople. It's said that a certain saint forged the daggers, mixing his own blood with the metal. At the time, the church revered them as holy blades.”
“Kirisame, lend me that book.”
“Sure. There's some real funny stories in there.”
Kirisame stamped her library card. Kimiyo looked up at the clock on the wall. It was almost closing time. Utamika played Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess over the speakers. That was the library's closing song. She was certain there was no one else in the library, but her job responsibilities clearly said she had to play it.
“Nothing else under the desk, Kirisame?”
“Well, there is one thing...” Kirisame bent down, rummaged around under the desk, and returned holding a blue gemstone. “What do you think? It's a lapis lazuli.”
“It's beautiful.”
The stone, small enough to fit in one hand, was a deep blue, intermittently flecked with golden pyrite. It looked as though the starry night sky had been sealed in a stone.
“I'll give it to you after I've made it into a pendant.”
Kimiyo thanked him.
A little snow was falling by the window. Kimiyo followed a snowflake with her eyes.
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