Discussion on February 25th
Her mother, who had fallen into a deep sleep, had been impregnated by someone. No, it was highly likely that she had been forcibly impregnated by s*xual assault. In any case, it had been a shocking truth for her daughter, Hinami.
It was early afternoon on February 25th, the day after she returned home.
When she casually turns on the radio, she hears a suspicion of bribery involving big names in politics and business. The investigative agency reportedly conducted a simultaneous search of all related locations.
This was later called the Lockheed Incident, and it was a major incident that led to the arrest of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and an unprecedented scandal. Newspapers reported the biggest postwar jail case with front-page headlines.
(All of Japan is in an uproar. I think it's great news. But Sengatake Village is different. This village is far away from the outside world... It's like an isolated island on land.)
The top news in Sengatake Village is different. Yukiko, the young proprietress of Sakuradani-kan, is pregnant with someone's child.
Rumors spread through the village like wildfire. Who is the man who impregnated the beautiful Yukiko, who was left alone after her husband Saemon died in a forest fire two years ago?
There are many mysteries surrounding the pregnancy of Yukiko, who is faithful to one's chastity. They hadn’t even been able to pinpoint the cause of her coma.
"Hey, Mother. What happened these two years when I was away?"
Hinami was told to use the Pine Room on the second floor of the main building. The Sakuradani-kan, a hot spring inn that incorporated a rare blend of Japanese and Western architectural styles, was a wooden three-story building. It was the largest building in Sengatake Village.
On the first floor, there was a men’s and women’s bath changing room, two large halls for banquets and day-trip guest rooms, and in addition to that, there were rooms for the employees who worked in the kitchen and living quarters
The guest rooms on the second floor are the Pine Room, Bamboo Room, and Plum Room.
The guest rooms on the third floor are the Heaven Room, Earth Room, and Human Room.
There are six guest rooms. They are named after [Pine, Bamboo, Plum] and [Heaven, Earth, and Human].
The rooms on the third floor with a great view are priced higher, while the rooms on the second floor are more affordable.
(Matsudaira-san, the talented novelist Ran mentioned, is staying in the Heaven Room on the third floor. He can occupy the best room in the Sakuradani building for a year, so he must be rich. That's right. It seems that Koshiro-san, a bank employee, is using the [Human Room]...)
Koshiro Himura, branch manager of Yamatoku Mujin Bank. After Saemon's death, who preferred to handle the financial matters more than serving customers, Koshiro took over all the financial matters at the hot spring inn, Sakuradani-kan. When there are no guests staying, he uses the [Human Room] as his work room.
He was extremely obese and had the body shape of a sumo wrestler. She remembers her late father claiming that he was an ugly pig. However, Hinami’s grandfather treasured Koshiro, and he said, [If anything happens, rely on Koshiro Himura of the Yamatoku Mujin Bank. He’ll definitely help you].
(As my grandfather said, I don't think he's a bad person... I don't think it's okay to judge people by their appearance...)
A long time ago, Koshiro protected Hinami from being attacked by a wild dog. She has never forgotten his kindness.
(My father was a bit prejudiced. He was reluctant to hire Ran, a runaway...)
Her father, Saemon, had a bad habit of judging people by their looks and upbringing. He probably viewed obesity as a symbol of depravity, insanity, and laziness.
"Hinami Ojousama? Have you finished your lunch? Please come to the hall on the first floor. Koshiro-sama has called everyone. He says he would like to start discussions soon."
"Yes. I understand."
What will happen to Sakuradani-kan, a long-established hot spring inn? The proprietress, Yukiko, has collapsed and is now bedridden, and her only relative is Hinami. However, there was no way a young girl in her mid-teens would be able to take over the inn right away.
At the request of Koshiro, who was entrusted with managing the property, influential people in Sengatake Village gathered to discuss how to preserve Sakuradani Inn, the village's cornerstone.
"...Um, Ojousama.... Will I be able to continue working here? I have nowhere else to go."
"It's okay. I'll take care of Ran. Don't worry about anything."
"Thank you. I will be in the detached room to take care of the proprietress. If you need anything, please let me know."
I felt sorry for Ran, whose fingertips were trembling like a small animal. She remembers her life two years ago when she ran away from home, her clothes in tatters, crying that she didn't want to go home.
There must have been some serious circumstances that led her to run away. However, Hinami wanted to at least let Ran go to school.
◆ ◆ ◆
After getting dressed, Hinami went out into the hallway. Guest rooms at Sakuradani-kan cannot be locked from the outside.
(It really is careless.)
It was set up so that it could only be locked from inside the room. For that reason, valuables like wallets were always placed in dialed safes installed in each room.
(Right now, there is only one regular guest, so I don't think there's any need to worry so much, but... you can't lock the door from the outside... Our inn is a bit old after all. Or rather, I feel like the village has been left behind by the times. It's like the Meiji or Taisho eras.)
The stylish clothes she bought in Germany, where she was studying abroad, seemed completely out of place when she wore them in Sengatake Village. During this period, Japanese clothing was common in mountain villages in the Tohoku region. The current Hinami stands out in a bad way.
(Just a miniskirt... It's normal these days, so it's fine. In Shibuya, Tokyo, there are girls with even shorter skirts...!)
The old people in the village were conservative. Like her father, Saemon, they hate the open culture of the city.
Reiko, the village doctor, is so concerned about her reputation that she goes out of her way to wear a kappogi-style white coat. Koshiro, a bank employee, is the only person in the village who regularly wears Western clothes. He always wore a gray suit.
As Hinami was about to go down the stairs, she heard footsteps upstairs. It was the loud creaking sound of the floor.
"......?"
She raises her gaze slowly. Then, there was a large man looking down at Hinami from the landing of the stairs. He is well over 180 centimeters tall. Is he in his late thirties? A strict bearded face gives a feeling of oppression. Hinami unconsciously stepped back.
(Who is this? Someone I don't know. A guest staying at the hotel, right?)
The only guest staying at Sakuradani-kan is Motonobu Matsudaira, a self-proclaimed novelist. Hinami had heard this from Ran.
"Hello. Are you a guest staying here?"
Hinami smiles amiably. The large man with a long beard remained silent, as if he were seeing a ghost.
"Um...? Are you a guest...?"
It reminds her of the wooden statue of Fudo Myoo. Is the emotion oozing from his tough expression something close to indignation? At the very least, the man seems to be harboring extraordinary feelings.
"Kaoruko......"
"Eh?"
Perhaps he mistook her for someone else, and he mumbled a name she didn't recognize.
"Kaoruko?"
"...! No, it's nothing... It's my mistake. Forget it."
The stiffness on his face loosened, and he took on a somewhat softer expression.
"I'm Motonobu Matsudaira, a novelist who's staying upstairs. I heard about you from my servant, Ran. It seems you're the child Yukiko Sakuradani gave birth to."
Motonobu mentioned the name of Hinami's mother, Yukiko Sakuradani. For just that moment, his tone grew meaningfully tense. She was curious, but what made her feel even more antagonistic was his rudeness toward Ran.
"Yes. That's right. My name is Hinami Sakuradani. And... excuse me, but could you call Ran an apprentice? We don't call our staff a servant at Sakuradani-kan."
"Ah, I see. That's true. We're already in that era. My bad. I'll be more careful from now on."
"Thank you. My mother, who was in charge of the inn, collapsed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We appreciate your understanding."
"...Why did you come back to Sengatake Village? You attended a girls' school in Tokyo, right?"
"How do you know that I attended a girls’ school in Tokyo?"
Everyone in the village knew where Hinami was going. They weren't hiding it. But it was creepy for a man she'd never met to know her information.
"I also heard that from Ran, who works here. So, why did you come back? Who called you?"
"My mother collapsed, right? As a daughter, it's only natural for me to come back."
"I see? I heard that you didn't come home when your father died two years ago."
"That was... when I was studying abroad in Germany. My mother told me that I didn't have to force myself to come back..."
"Germany? In Europe? You studied abroad? So that's how it is. So... I see... That's why you can't find it on the street. Were you trying to keep me away from it...? It seems like the blackmail is true."
"Huh? Motonobu-san...?"
"If you're not in Japan... certainly... but if that's the case, then someone..."
Motonobu agreed on his own and returned to the third floor without explaining the situation to Hinami.
(What's going on? Who is that man...? He suddenly spoke to me, but then he said something I didn't understand...)
Hinami, who was left behind, had a bad first impression of Motonobu. He could only be described as a large man with suspicious behavior.
(I wonder if he gave Ran pocket money and asked her about where I went to school and what was going on at Sakuradani-kan. It's really bad. I need to make sure she doesn't talk about me...!)
In this closed countryside, the speed of rumors flying around is amazing. In Japan in the 1970s, the concept of privacy and personal information was not widely accepted.
◆ ◆ ◆
All the people involved gathered on the first floor of the Sakuradani Hall, the Large Chrysanthemum Hall.
The one who called was Koshiro, the branch manager of Yamatoku Mujin Bank, who was entrusted with Sakuradani-kan's accounting duties. In effect, he manages the Sakuradani family's assets and is Hinami's guardian.
He's an obese-looking ugly man, as the nickname suggests: ugly pig with an abacus. The change in the past few years must have left his hair thin.
"Well then... everyone, thank you for coming today. Actually, hmm! Excuse me, uh... First, let's start with Reiko-san from the Sengatake Village Clinic. She has a report regarding the proprietress' condition."
At Koshiro's urging, female doctor Reiko explains Yukiko's condition. It was exactly the same story that Hinami heard late last night.
The cause of her coma is unknown and may be psychological. She doesn't know how she got pregnant, but she was about five months pregnant, and she was sure she got pregnant last year. However, the lacerations at her v*ginal opening and anus were kept hidden.
"Considering the condition of the fetus, it will be difficult to transfer her to a major hospital outside the village. We have no choice but to wait for Yukiko-san to wake up. Just to be clear, we cannot say anything about whether the unborn child will be born safely. However, there are cases overseas of pregnant women who gave birth in a vegetative state."
Reiko finished her explanation. Hinami had mixed feelings.
Her mother collapsed and still hasn't woken up, leading to her becoming pregnant. What was happening at Sakuradani-kan in Sengatake Village while she was away from the village? She wanted to know the truth.
Hinami carefully observes the expressions of the people gathered.
Perhaps the man who impregnated her mother may be participating in the discussion. Although the face of the employees working at the inn has changed, the face of Sengatake Village has remained the same for over ten years.
(――But why even those people?)
The hot spring inn [Sakuradani-kan] is the only accommodation facility in Sengatake Village. The management of the hot spring has been handled by the Sakuradani family. In recent years, however, there has been a desire to make the hot spring rights a common asset of Sengatake Village.
"We should decide the most important thing first! What will happen to the rights to Sakuradani Inn!?"
The village chief, Taisuke Isaka, was the representative for the people aiming for the hot spring rights of the Sakuradani family. His son Sousuke Isaka was also here for some reason. The village chief, Taisuke, is not alone, but everyone around him has also come for business, even the playboy, Sousuke, has come here as well.
"Village Chief-san, please calm down. Yukiko-san is still alive, just in a state of unconsciousness. In the first place, the rights to Sakuradani Inn belong to Yukiko-san and her daughter, Hinami. It is the property of the Sakuradani family."
Koshiro wipes the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. It was obvious to anyone that he was nervous.
"No, we should take this opportunity to make it a common property of the village! The hot springs will become an important tourist resource for Sengatake Village. There was also a plan to build a ski resort! The previous generation, Yoshiharu, ruined that plan! Considering the development of Sengatake Village, it's only one house! This is not the time for a single landowner to monopolize the rights of Sengatake Village!"
"Village Chief-san. No matter what you say, the landowner is the Sakuradani family. By what authority do they intend to share the property? Would you force them to make a donation? If you are going to do something like that, then the Sakuradani family's property will be destroyed. As I am in charge of the management, I will take legal action, you know?"
When it came to money, Koshiro became talkative. His stuttering habit from the beginning of the discussion had vanished.
"Hmph! The clever little pig man is talking. Listen up! I am here to assert the legitimate rights of the Isaka family!"
Everyone gathered looked at each other, not understanding what the village chief meant.
"Say it clearly in front of everyone! Sousuke!"
The village chief's son, Sousuke Isaka, was a playboy. He is 34 years old, the same age as Yukiko and Saemon. The three of them, who were the same age, were old friends who grew up in Sengatake Village.
Yukiko and Saemon became husband and wife, and Sousuke became estranged from them. No, there seemed to be some kind of history between them. Saemon and Sousuke had a grim relationship. Even when they met face-to-face, they didn't even greet each other, and they kept arguing about trivial things.
(Sousuke-san, the playboy... He has returned to the village. I don't know him well, but I heard that he was fighting with his father. What on earth are you trying to say here...?)
Sousuke stepped in front of everyone and looked at Hinami once. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
"――Here is Sakuradani Saemon's will!"
"A will? Father’s will?"
Hinami shifted her posture and leaned forward. Some of the people looked at Sousuke with suspicion and started whispering to each other.
"Yeah, that's right. It seems that some people are doubting it. However, it was written in Saemon Sakuradani's handwriting! His signature and seal are also here! Why is Saemon's will in my possession? I'll explain that first."
Sousuke begins to explain why he has the will.
"Two years ago, on July 7th, just before Saemon was burnt to death in a forest fire at Oni Tengu Shrine, a letter was sent to me. At that time, I left Sengatake Village. I worked at a liquor store in Kokubuncho. Apparently, Saemon felt that his life was in danger and sent this letter to me, his childhood friend.''
"Wait. What's that? I've never heard of that. What do you mean!? I don't know a letter like that!"
Koshiro interjected. Sousuke was glaring at him with an unusually bitter look on his face.
"We're in the middle of a conversation. Shut up and listen! Saemon doesn't trust you! You're pretending like you don't know anything! Saemon was being threatened by yakuza who were after the Sakuradani family's land!! The people of the village... Did you know? It's rumored that they had some collaborators, you know?"
"...! Are you really trying to say that it's me! The Isaka family was the one who wanted the Sakuradani family's land in the first place! I was told by my predecessor, Yoshiharu Sakuradani, that he protected the hot spring inn. Even the yakuza who have been harassing them are the wrecks that live in Kokubuncho! You're a pawn!"
"Then why did Saemon entrust me with his will? Saemon was suspicious of you. Was that forest fire really an accident!? You were the one who called in the carpenters who started that fire!"
"You're making excuses! Isn't that will a fake!? Where is the proof that it's real! Why would the Master entrust a will to someone like you!? Everyone in the village knows that! You betrayed the Master――"
"Shut up! If you talk in front of Hinami, I'll kill you! You swindling pig!"
"In the end, it's violence? Nothing's going to change! The prodigal son of the Isaka family! The evil demon! That's the liar, the charlatan! What basis do you have to claim I'm lying? Say it with that crooked mouth of yours! There's nothing wrong with that! If you investigate, you'll know right away that I'll be telling the right truth!"
"You!? Shall I break that double chin!? Ah!?"
"Hey, wait a minute! Please! Wait!! Before we start arguing, please show me Father's will. What does that will say!?"
Sousuke hands the will he was clutching to Hinami. The handwriting written on Japanese paper was very similar to her father's handwriting.
"Hinami Ojousama! No! The blockhead son of the Isaka family made up bullshit!"
"You're annoying! You pig! Shut up! No, I'll make you shut up!"
Koshiro makes a fuss about it being a fake, and Sousuke threatens him with an angry voice.
"Both of you, please be quiet! It’s Father’s will! Regardless of whether it’s true or not, everyone here should know its contents! Isn’t that right!?"
Ignoring the commotion, Hinami read out the contents of the letter.
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[Introduction of characters]
▼Yukiko Sakuradani
The young proprietress of Sakuradani-kan, a long-established hot spring inn.
She lost her husband and became a widow. She is raped by someone from Sengatake Village and she becomes pregnant.
▼ Saemon Sakuradani (deceased)
Yukiko's late husband. Burn to death in a fire. He has a severed relationship with Sousuke.
▼ Hinami Sakuradani
Yukiko and Saemon's only daughter. She left Sengatake Village and entered a girls' school in Tokyo. Until recently, she was studying abroad.
She reunites with her mother for the first time in two years and is told that she is pregnant.
▼ Sousuke Isaka
The prodigal son of the Isaka family, who monopolizes the position of village chief in Sengatake Village.
He was an old friend of Yukiko and Saemon, but they had a rift over a certain incident and their relationship became strained.
▼ Koshiro Himura
A bank employee at Yamatoku Mujin Bank. An obese, ugly middle-aged man.
Although he is the exclusive representative of the Sakuradani family, he was despised by Saemon when he was alive.
▼ Motonobu Matsudaira
Self-proclaimed novelist. A guest staying at Sakuradani-kan for a long time.
He looked at Hinami and mumbled someone's name.
▼ Reiko Misaki
A female doctor who works at a clinic in Sengatake Village. She diagnoses that Yukiko is pregnant.
▼ Ran
An apprentice who works at Sakuradani-kan. She is a twelve-year-old girl, but she does not go to school.
[Records of Sengatake Village]
▽ 1974
One day in April: Hinami enters a girls' school in Tokyo and leaves Sengatake Village.
July 7th: Saemon was burned to death in a fire.
Late August: Yukiko's emotions become disturbed and she begins to kick out the old employees.
▽ 1975
A certain day in September: Yukiko becomes pregnant by the rape demon's seed.
▽ 1976
February 24th: Hinami returns home and is told that her mother, Yukiko, is pregnant.
February 25th: Influential people from Sengatake Village gather for discussion.
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