After a while (time unspecified), Hoshino-san brings him a wheelchair. Her stiff expression feels rather ominous for our hero - she's nervous. What could she be up to? Probably not an erotic escapade, though we can always hope. And by we I mean me.
Tsuka's pushed around two corners, a sliding screen is opened by "we" (yay ambiguity!), and finds himself in a room. The room is large, with a wooden floor and an altar. It looks like it could be the monks' quarters, if this is the main temple. In the front of the room (the picture has it in the back...) sits a strange Buddha statue.
>ask hoshino about miroku
"How do you know that?" she responds, surprised.
You decide to tell her that you were once interested in Japanese culture. You realize this makes you look a bit like a weeaboo.
>stand
Hoshino lends you her shoulder. You get off of the wheelchair.
>sit
You sit down on the floor, rather awkwardly as you cannot bend your broken leg.
Hoshino tells you that Ryugeju-sama has a deep connection with Miroku-sama, which is why the Daichis can live in the temple in these conditions. He is the only Buddha who would take them in in times like this.
You find yourself unable to understand what she means, and give a vague answer.
>wait
You wait for 10 minutes.
You hear two sets of footsteps and the sounds of moving cloth from the hallways, signaling the entrance of two women.
One is middle-aged, with short, black hair. She is wearing plain monk garb - she must be a monk. Her face is deeply wrinkled, which is not visible in her picture because fuck accuracy. You can see that she used to be beautiful in her better years, however - in fact, she's still a beauty for her age. However, her doubting eyes watch you with suspicion, rather ruining your first impression of her.
You faintly recollect a similar gaze boring into you last night - was it hers?
The other woman is much younger, and wears brilliant white and red clothes - a bit like what you'd see at a shrine at New Years, but... slightly different. Her hair is also done up in an idiosyncratic fashion.
>change_perspective thirdperson
She has a cold, but well-featured face - very similar to ones we have encountered before, unfortunately. Oh wait, no! Tsukasa recognizes her face! It's that girl they managed to save from some bad men by chasing them off (not to be confused with Nozomi).
Her name, as Tsuka remembers it, is Nogi Taeko.
Taeko-san thanks Tsukasa, and bows her head. She asks you... I mean Tsukasa to call her Ryugeju, since that's what she's called in this joint.
Interestingly, the middle-aged woman is called Nogi Akane. She's Ryugeju's mother. After greeting our hero, she says she will be back later, and leaves.
A new picture is shown: Ryugeju is (as far as I can tell, she's wearing a long dress of some kind) kneeling Japanese-style, and looks pretty imposing as she sits before the altar, though her eyes are serene (the picture didn't really capture this well, she's positively creepy to my eyes). Calm, mysterious, somewhat sad music plays. It's the first I've heard of this one, I think. I'm somewhat reminded of Ever17's tune Hologramm. Yes, I have the Ever17 soundtrack in the .flac format and listen to it quite a lot, and I think it's pretty damn good... Where was I?
Ryugeju wishes to talk about the Daichis' fundamental principal. Is that principle? I can't tell yet.
She addresses our hero like the true cool guy he is, as Amako Tsukasa-sama. Recent events have changed the world completely, and even now people are still fighting. There is no sign of rescue, either. How did the world get so scary? What does Amako-sama think?
Tsukasa finds himself stumped, given the time frame given. Ryugeju does not give him much time. Tsukasa does manage to say he considers it a random occurrence, with no real reason behind it.
Ryugeju agrees it's a natural phenomenon. However, she wonders if he can say it has no reason with certainty.
Of course, Tsukasa can't prove what doesn't exist - he can't declare such a thing. Interestingly, Ryugeju actually apologises - well, this is maybe just Japanese formality - for her rude question, and says she will not claim such a reason exists because you cannot prove otherwise. She then goes on to say something fairly unclear about things being natural phenomena... The laws of nature... Nature has no will... Well, this is prettied-up stuff that really means nothing. Oh, and it is incorrect to separate rationality and irrationality. Do not consider them, but consider the flow and where things are headed... Senses are perhaps unreliable... You can realize the truth of this if you pay attention... Oh, and to the meat of the issue, this also applies to the future. Thus, it's not difficult to see the future. With your senses, because you doubt them, or something... So either she's bullshitting or using common sense slash experience, which really helped when she hired the policemen and thus caused a motherfucking war to erupt. Well, well.
The war before the quake was full of bad stuff, so it was bad, balance of nature demands that this trend reverses somehow... Equilibrium must be reached, and hey presto fuckloads of people die! This was just a natural consequence of decadence, blah blah blah, Ugh, fuck you Ryu-fuckhead. She speaks calmly throughout all of this, because she's dispensing wisdom, of course.
Tsuka's overwhelmed by the stream of bullshit (note: all the rage is me, not his.). Nevertheless, he manages to interject. Is Ryugeju talking about Armageddon or the great king of terror (is this in fact the biblical Antichrist he is referring to?)? That is just a legend, after all.
Blah this way of thinking is normal because lots of people have thought the same throughout history, that makes it natural to feel that way. Everyone feels this truth somehow, even the non-religious. Just like everybody understands the blues, I suppose. I'm not sure what blues musician said that, maybe BB King.
Tsukasa wonders why Ryugeju turned the letter asking for a truce down, considering everyone feels the same truth and stuffs.
Not denying and fighting others don't contract each other, she says - it's natural for people who do things differently to get into a dispute, occasionally a war because that's such a great event. A truce could not possibly be accepted by the Daichis, as the Schoolers could not accept their position... Sounds like the good ol' Bush giving whole "With us or against us" talk.
And here comes the religion: The age of decadence has been reached, and the world will die out, for certains and reals. Of course, the world tends to be saved by some God in the stories, again an appeal to the whole humans tend to invent a god or two thing. Thus it's a good bet that this guy, who they call Miroku-sama, will eventually come down to the mortal plane and give them three scriptures through Ryugeju. They will be called the Ryugejusankai, and provide salvation for all life. Holy shit, all life!
So basically if people can take part in Ryugejusankai, they can be released from this pain of destruction.
Well, that sure sounds great says Tsuka. Well, it's going to be awhile until Miroku comes down to chill with the mortals, but perhaps the Daichis can pray and bring him down sooner. This is the purpose of the Daichis - to have the Ryugejusankai come down at their place.
Ryugeju sees that Tsukasa is unconvinced - indeed, this is quite unsuitable for his way of thinking. Tsuka deflects it, says it's more like he doesn't understand since there are so many new words... (not really reflected in the translation, if it was a feature of the language used in the original). Tsuka does not think it concerns him, however.
Ryugeju gazes into Tsukasa's eyes - it feels to him like something like a hand is extending from him along their locked gaze. He consciously brushes it away.
"Yes. But please take this as our self-introduction. You will need to understand what we are for your life after this."
Well, Tsuka wonders if going back to the school would be asking too much - it was what he was planning to do. What does Ryugeja want him to do?
"That is not something I should mention."
She shuts her mouth. The place grows quiet...
"Um...", Tsuka wonders.
A woman's voice approaches from behind. She shall tell Tsukasa more about this life thingy. It's Nogi Akane.
The music stops. The picture of Ryugeju fades away.
"Yes."
Tsukasa wonders if this will be... like something a woman and man does at a church or a shrine? Indeed, that is the kind of marriage they speak of. She thanks him very much for some reason.
Tsukasa is rather baffled at this. Hold on — why does he have to marry Ryugeju-sama?
Akane is silent, with a cold, doll-like expression.
Apparently, it is destined that Miroku-sama will come into the world in the form of Ryugeju's child. Of course, she needs someone to bone her for this to occur. Ryugeju had told them that the chosen boner would appear where Tsukasa was, at that day. Presumably, this was not Aroe due to certain... incompatibilities (someone make a Yuri fic, NOW!).
She's serious. It seems like a bad joke to Tsukasa though, no matter how he thinks about it. I mean, he ain't superstitious, even when black cats cross his path. Well, that is no problem for them - they follow the flow of nature, after all. Rationality, who needs it? The best choice is to follow the will of nature. In fact, Tsukasa asks if Ryugeju's visions or whatever would still have been followed if it indicated a dog or horse or whatever. Indeed, they would, though Akane (way to spoil a cute name from 999) doubts such a union would actually produce a child.
Tsukasa directs the same question to Ryugeju-sama. She nods mechanically. Hmm, is she being dominated somehow by her mother? Will the two stage an escape somehow? Who said I'm wack? How many ZakaTheories will be wrong?
Tsukasa considers their strength of belief amazing. Nevertheless, he says it must be a mistake - he's sure even the buddha makes mistakes.
"I'm sorry, but we have no intention of listening to your opinion."
Well, they won't require him to be bound to the marriage or anything. All that's needed is for our hero to impregnate Ryugeju, after all. After that's done, he can go whereever... Yeah, I can totally believe that. Akane draws nearer. Tsukasa refuses once more. He can't do something like breeding - after all, he has a lover too. He does not like cheating.
"Excuse me, but do you understand the situation you're in?"
He continues to refuse. The guy really does stand up for what he believes in, if quietly. You have to admire the guy.
"Okay. Your belief is firm. Then you will be staying here until you can give us a reply."
Uh, he's done so. Like, a million times. Well, Tsuka's unwilling, but he understands. Oh, and the Daichis will also keep the other lady as a hostage - and they won't let him see her. Aroe, that is. Well, the practicality of the situation calls for Akane's denial of the word hostage - after all, returning Aroe would be dangerous for that person, and Aroe herself would probably fuck up on her own. Indeed, Tsukasa actually thanks them for letting Aroe stay after this argument. Additionally, he thanks her for saving him and Aroe, laying his hands on the tatami and bowing his head. His broken leg finds this highly disagreeable.
There is no reason to thank the Daichis, of course — it's all by Miroku-sama's hand, after all.
Fade to black.
