On that day, I visited a famous temple in Kyoto city, Kyoto province. If people know that I have visited that place, its fame would be harmed so I will keep the temple’s name a secret. To me, that day marked the day I got involved in this love story, so for a man who has always lived seriously like me, the memory about them – those two people who left a deep impression to me – that was an undeniable day. I was able to remember that day simply because it’s a day in 365 days of a year, a very easy to remember day. That day, was January 1st. It was New Years Day. About my temple visit, it was because I visit a temple every two years on New Year. Of course that was a lie. I am not the type of person who has deep faith, to be more specific, even the fact that I am a person is doubtful itself. And so, I believe that there is no God or Buddha in this world, just like the fact that I don’t want to be put on the same level with people who willingly throw money away – which is the most important thing, even more than life itself – like throwing away some trash. If they’re counted as humans, then it’s fine if I am not a human. To put it bluntly, in the past I was involved in the fraud of quite a big religion sect. Being deceived, being trampled on. In this world, if there is neither God nor Buddha, people will not shed tears or blood. People like that will definitely not visit temple in the beginning of a year, and even if they did, gods won’t take their offerings. Maybe they decided not to enter the gate, or maybe they stop in front of the subscribing box and turn back immediately. Of course that’s not for fun only. So if we talk about the reason to go to temples, while there are already so many people gathered there on New Year, then it will obviously be the part time job of being the temple keeper. There’s no way it is, right? The stuff about them recruiting part-time Miko in temples, I know about it, but being a temple keeper cannot be a part time job. Eh no, from the beginning Miko definitely cannot be a part time job as well. If I am forced to say it then it would be a great fraud. Of course, I didn’t mean to judge it as a fraud. I even want to appeal to others to join. Because after all, half of the visitors are interested in the atmosphere of visiting a temple on New Year like this. People believe without a doubt that a girl wearing a Miko uniform is a Miko, so it’s obvious that they’ve been tricked. Believing, is wanting to be tricked, I think so. And because of that, the reason why I visited a temple on the first day of a year, is just to watch that crowd – that’s all. To watch half of the crowd that visited a temple just for fun, and throw money away – which is more important the life – like throwing away some trash, to research the life of these folks, I only came here for that reason. A virtuous citizen. A model citizen, afraid of having to suspect. I cannot become like that, if so, everything will end. Thinking so, I visit temples every year. Though it’s not January 1st, though it’s in the middle of summer, when I find myself having come to a standstill or failure, I often go to a temple to relax. Though it’s not as crowded as on New Year, though not throwing money away like trash, there are always some people there. There are always some visitors. There are always someone like that. Looking at those people, I always think that I cannot become like them, if I do then everything will end. A warning. A self warning. Maybe if I say so it does sound like a self warning, but in fact, perhaps there is a completely different reason. Actually, I might wish for good health in the coming year, or perhaps fortune. So, if we count my “perhaps”, there is probably no limit, perhaps. All in all, the reason why I said I had been in that temple, was because from that moment on, it would no longer be related to me, so it didn’t matter if that had really happened or not. What was important was, right at that moment, I was in a temple in Kyoto. Of course Kyoto wasn’t my living place. It was also not a visit to the nearby temple. To be more specific, to me, the definition of “living place” doesn’t exist. Perhaps I have the right of having the so-called address registration. But I had already sold it back when I was in school. Well, saying that I “had sold it when I was in school” was a lie, saying that I “had sold it” was half a lie, but the fact that I was a person without address registration was true. The man named Kaiki Deishuu had passed away in a traffic accident a few years ago. Of course back then, getting a part of the insurance fee was my obvious interest. Therefore, even if it is fiction, it is still a bad lie. Even so, the fact that I am a homeless man, I can swear to the gods that it is true. I didn’t talk about that in the temple, but I can swear to the gods about that. Talking about that, I and Oshino Meme – a very close friend – have not so different ways of living perhaps. If there is a difference, then it is that he likes sleeping in shabby places, while I prefer luxury hotels – that is the only difference. It is personal taste, so we cannot say it is noble or poverty. Because I’m sure that Oshino hates dirty cash, cellphones or luxury hotels just like the way I hate sleeping in tents. If his homeless life is like an outdoor research, then my homeless life is like running away. If we consider the noble and poverty factor, then he is probably noble and I am poverty. Perhaps. In short, at the moment I was in Kyoto not because I was an inhabitant there. I couldn’t speak in Kyoto accent fluently without being suspected as well. And I couldn’t accept the yin-yang theory of this city too. Actually, to put it simply, speaking of visiting a temple in the beginning of a year is speaking of Kyoto. With that reason, every year I go to Kyoto on January 1st. Was that a poorly bad lie? But in this country, yeah here, everywhere was great. Though it was a famous temple in Tokyo or Fukuoka, it was still great. It’ just that saying Kyoto would be easier for everyone to understand, so I said it was in Kyoto; please understand my situation, but the fact is I didn’t care where it was. Actually, thinking that I had a great New Year somewhere overseas like Hawaii would pose no problem at all. If you want, you can think that I was in an area in the middle of war. It’s just that I wouldn’t be permitted; absolutely not in towns where peaceful songs are being sung, but because of that, please just think it wasn’t trustworthy. Whatever you want. Doesn’t matter how it is. Where I was, in which mood, what I did had no meaning to the beginning point of this story. Where was the beginning point, huh? Because I was an outsider, so to the end of the very end, until the end band was cut, I was still just an outsider. So what mattered here was time. Time. It was schedule such as date, hour, month, year. Only these things mattered. The reason why in a year, January 1st leaves the deepest impression, stayed the longest in memory, of course, is because it is a special day, that doesn’t exclude a person like me. To a middle-aged man who found no meaning in summer vacation, even winter vacation and spring vacation like me, even I still think so, not to mention the students. What was it, receiving lucky money and New Year postcards – so it was definitely a very important day. On such an important day, I got a phone call. A phone call from a high schooler. “Hello, Kaiki? It’s me, Senjougahara.” A name was called, sharp as knife. From listening alone, no one would think that was a high schooler. “There’s someone I want you to deceive.”
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 10:25:37 +0000