Heart of the Sword by Mark Chin

Author:Mark Chin [Chin, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781482879612
Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
Published: 2016-09-22T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

An apple caused man’s fall, as some believe;

But that old Snake, malevolently wise,

A deadlier snare set when he left to Eve

His tongue of honey and mesmeric eyes.

—Victor J. Daley, “The Serpent”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The houses on Miraiyu Street were nothing like the ones on Taito Street. Not that Taito Street possessed excessive splendor by any means. No. The houses on Miraiyu Street merely seemed a little smaller and a little older and were built just a little closer together.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the houses on Miraiyu Street did not belong to the structures themselves. The entire line of buildings faced a wide creek that fed into the Kandagawa River. Because of the creek’s propensity for flooding during the rainy season, many of the small houses had been built on raised stilts, creating a favorite shaded hiding place for pets, children, and many a snake. It was the latter that had Okita Souji down on his hands and knees in front of his new house, poking fruitlessly into the darkness with a stick.

“Is there a point to what you are doing, Okita?” Saitou said, walking up the pathway. “Because you look like a goddamn idiot.”

“Ah! Saitou-kun, you’ve returned,” Okita replied, pulling himself out from underneath the house, barely missing smacking his head on the ledge. “What do you think of my new palace? I’ve never really had my own home.”

Saitou regarded the house for a moment. The ramshackle building seemed to be listing slightly to the left on the eastern side. In addition, the thatched roof bore an obscene amount of tangled moss, which dangled down at odd intervals, creating a scattered curtain around the engawa. The wood that composed the building’s side had long since warped and bent with the moisture from the nearby water. And the yard, what there was of it, had grown wild with weeds fed off the nutrients of the passing creek. All in all, the place was a wreck.

“It is a shithole, Okita. Thank God my sister took care of you, or you would have ended up living in a ditch.” Saitou’s eyes narrowed at the stick in Okita’s hand, offering the question again without words.

“Hai, hai,” Okita replied dismissively, tossing the stick to the side. “There’s a snake down there I want.”

“If you are that stuck for food, I am certain that my wife would be more than happy to feed you.”

“No, no, no.” Okita threw up his hands, declining the offer of having food stuffed down his throat until he collapsed in pain. “I’m going to raise them—snakes, that is. In the back. Interesting species. Essentially decent creatures, ridding the world of plague-carrying rats and mice, keeping to themselves unless disturbed, remarkably strong and clever, but at the same time, rather weak of body. Tragically misunderstood, I think.”

“Hn,” Saitou grunted, as per usual when his friend went on about something that appeared to have no relevance to practical reality. Changing the subject, he replied, “I’ve come to return your katana.”

“Oh,” Souji said, stepping up onto the engawa.

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