The fifth, and latest for the moment, story from the 4 seasons of K series. The original j.a.panese text is kindly provided by .
Endless Rain by Raikaku Rei
On that day it started to rain in the afternoon.
“Weather forecast promised no rains today, yet look at this. You can never be too careful in this season,” said Akiyama, having just come back to the HQ and trying to sweep rain droplets off his soaked uniform.
“Ah!” Benzai next to him suddenly let out a loud exclamation at the words barely out of Akiyama’s mouth. “This is bad, I left my futon out to dry this morning. Apologies, but I need to drop by the dorm real quick!” Fl.u.s.tered, he sped off through the rain in the direction of the dorm.
Fushimi, watching his fast retreating back out of the corner of the eye, thought, ‘Don’t show up at work without having taken care of your futon first then!’
Another day brought another rain.
“We haven’t see a sliver of clear weather these past few days, have we,” Kamo noted with a sigh, watching from the window of the HQ the gray sky expelling torrents of rain on the world down below.
“Agh,” Doumyouji, busy writing a report - an activity that he hated with pa.s.sion - groused out mournfully, crumpling the sheet of paper into a ball after evidently making a mistake, then taking another one and wrapping it around the first, making a rough Teru teru bouzu. “It’s soggy and damp and wet and moist day after day, and it’s depressing the h.e.l.l out of me! And thanks to these humidity levels my hair gets all curly!”
Tossing a glace at Doumyouji who puffed out his cheeks as he tugged at the ends of his hair, Fushimi combed through his own mane of curling hair and thought, "I share your sentiments alright, but finish the d.a.m.n report already!’
Another day, another rain.
“Fuse! We’ve got a serious problem! The roof in our room is leaking!” Enomoto, who had retired to his room early, came rushing back to the dining hall of the dorm with a panic-stricken face.
Fuse, who was busy consuming a second helping of curry they had for dinner, grimaced, grumbled, “Ugh!” and got up. “You gotta be kidding, anything but that! It’s been raining for ages as it is, why make it even worse…!”
Watching Fuse and Enomoto hurriedly leave the dining hall, having an emergency council on how to counter the leak and repair the roof as they went, Fushimi thought to himself, "It’s high time this worn-out sty of a dorm had a rebuilding.’ This wish was closely followed by another thought. "I seriously can’t remember this d.a.m.n rain letting up even once these past few days,’ he pondered as he lightly bit at the spoon after carrying a spoonful of curry into his mouth.
Yet another day, and it still rained.
“Dispatch on rainy days really rains on your parade,” Gotou murmured with feeling, rocking in Scepter 4’s transport van bound for the scene of an accident.
They couldn’t exactly tote an umbrella around for dispatch, so their uniform would get thoroughly soaked, and there would be no sufficient time to do laundry and dry it. On the days when Scepter 4 had dispatches, the hall of men’s dorm was a sorry sight: it was full of soaking wet uniforms hung out to dry, and the odor coming off the wet boots left out to air was not pleasant, to say the least. Today would be another day like that, most likely.
Except suddenly the rhythmical beating of the raindrops against the car stopped, and Hidaka, who was looking out the window, couldn’t help making a surprised noise, “Huh? Is it me, or it looks like the rain actually let up?”
Fushimi lifted his head and, like Hidaka, saw a bright dry world through the window. Only, unlike Hidaka, Fushimi felt that something about it was off somehow. Rather than the rain stopping, it looked more like it rained only in the area around their HQ, while these parts saw no rain at all recently. In fact, the ground was perfectly dry. They weren’t even that far away from the HQ, so it looked like the rain tormenting them was a very localized phenomenon.
Having arrived to their destination which enjoyed fine weather, the squad sorted out the case, then got back into the van to head back. When they arrived to the HQ, drizzling rain still was there, enveloping the area.
"This rain is strange, no?’ Fushimi thought.
Yet another day with the rain showing no signs of abating anytime soon.
“This rain is somewhat strange, don’t you think?” Awashima remarked, arms folded across her chest as she gazed out the window.
It was right after the a.s.sembly of the special ops squad, and Doumyouji was the fastest to react to her words.
“I couldn’t have agreed more! It may the rainy season right now, but the rain not letting up even for a second is unheard of!”
“Well… It does feel like this rain has lasted longer than in your average year, but it is the rainy season, after all,” Kamo commented with a sour look on his face and folded arms.
Akiyama frowned and looked out the window. “But according to the weather forecast, it’s supposed to be sunny today…”
“Lately, weather forecasts are unreliable, off the mark more often than not,” Benzai let out a long sigh.
Enomoto fiddled with his PDA and, c.o.c.king his head to the side, informed the present, “Except it looks like it’s actually sunny in the Shizume town today?”
The screen of the PDA Enomoto held out for everyone to see displayed real-time feed from the Shizume town. Unlike the gloomy gray skies over Scepter 4’s HQ, the sky it showed was bright blue.
Hidaka tilted his head in puzzlement. “We sure see a lot of strangely localized phenomena like this lately. Just the other day, it was raining here, but when we drove a little distance away, it was suddenly all sunny.”
“Hey, you makes it sound like this place is cursed or something though?” Fuse responded to Gotou’s remark, and Awashima’s brows suddenly jumped up.
“…Maybe it IS cursed,” she said dead-serious, and Fushimi threw a sidelong glance at her, pushing up his gla.s.ses.
“Whether the cause is a curse or not aside, I do suspect that what we’re seeing here is condition beyond the realm of normalcy.”
Hearing her answer, Fushimi didn’t say anything, just took out a tablet he held under his arm and pushed a few b.u.t.tons. On its display, a comparison of the weather conditions of the area around Scepter 4’s HQ with those of the other metropolitan areas appeared.
Fushimi, too, had his suspicions regarding the recent onslaught of rain, so he did some research on the subject in his free time.
“Indeed, since the beginning of the rainy season, in the area around our HQ it rained every single day, no exceptions. On the days when in the metropolitan area it was sunny or simply cloudy, here, within the radius of 500 meters from our HQ, it unfailingly drizzled.”
Yes, that was really strange, if you thought about it. But then again, with the time of the year being the rainy season, rain, light or heavy, was bound to fall anyway, and Scepter 4 was rather busy with their everyday work, that’s why, even if the strange rain clouds surrounding Scepter 4’s HQ did bother Fushimi somewhat, until now he ignored the subject in favor of more pressing matters.
Having studied the information Fushimi provided, Awashima’s frown deepened, while the other members made a fuss.
“For only this area to be under the constant onslaught of rain, we must have one h.e.l.l of a rain man among us.”
“Rain man…” Kamo murmured, signs of being shaken on his face, and averted his eyes.
Benzai saw it and didn’t let it slide. “Kamo, do you happen to be a rain man, by any chance?”
“Kamo, get a grip! It’s not your fault.” Kamo dejectedly hung his head low, but Akiyama took him by the shoulders and shook him encouragingly.
“That’s right, no need for mopping, Kamo~! I’m a pretty powerful sunny man myself, so next time you wanna take your daughter places, I don’t mind going with you!” Doumyouji clapped Kamo on the depressedly slumped back.
Kamo shook his head listlessly. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ll pa.s.s. ….If this ceaseless rain is my fault, I sincerely apologize…”
“That’s right, Kamo-san. If anything, the enigmatic doll Gotou bought some time ago is more likely to have the power to call forth rain!”
“Hm~m, true, I bought it about the start of the rainy season. What can I say, I fell for it at first sight.”
“Hidaka, Fuse, calm down. I only mentioned that doll to provide a simile. There’s no way Kamo-san or that doll are the cause of this rain.”
Awashima, who stood pondering entirely different possibilities a little to the side of the clamoring men engaged in an unproductive search of the offender, turned on her heels and left the room, arms still folded across her chest. Fushimi followed her without a word.
“…Lieutenant, what’s your opinion on this?” He asked quietly as the two walked side by side down the hall.
Awashima answered just as quietly with the same pensive look she adopted earlier, “Attributing this situation to the effects of a so called rain man or a cursed doll doesn’t appear realistic.”
“Yeah, figures,” Fushimi responded indifferently.
For a few seconds, they walked in silence as Awashima was seemingly weighting whether she should voice her other thoughts on the matter or not. Having made up her mind, she added, “…But what if it was a strain’s doing?”
“When you put it like that, this guess does seem unrealistic after all,” Awashima shrugged her shoulders lightly.
“It’s hard to call realistic, I have to agree with you on that. And on the off chance that it indeed is a doing of a strain, there is hardly any ground to claim harm sustained from the act. It’s the rainy season, after all. So I do find the idea of wasting time and manpower on investigating this possibility unreasonable, especially considering that we hardly have any to spare, but… if it’s an order from my superior officer, I will look into it though?”
It was said curtly and emotionlessly, but Awashima let out a little chuckle, hearing Fushimi’s answer. “Then look into it for me. Since like me, my competent and capable subordinate, too, seems to be concerned with this matter.”
Through precise measurements of the probability deviation values and subsequent exclusion of the “blue” within the HQ, traces, although minuscule, of the power of someone other than the troops - that is, most likely a strain - were detected.
“We’re really dealing with a strain lurking in our HQ?” Awashima’s eyes went wide after Fushimi’s report.
Fushimi, face sour as ever, dragged his fingers through his hair. “Yes, they are lurking on the premises, there can be no doubt about it. A strain with a really low ability score is present in the courtyard of our station.”
As one would expect, it was still drizzling, yet Awashima and Fushimi stood side by side under the rain without umbrellas. Before them, there stretched the courtyard of moderate proportions. There weren’t many places to hide there though, only the thicket of French hydrangea blooming bright blue could really pa.s.s as one, and combing through it even at a lazy pace would take no more than 10 minutes, and naturally, the two had already conducted a thorough search of it.
In the dead silence, only the sound of raindrops. .h.i.tting the ground could be heard.
Awashima smoothly placed a hand on the sheath of her saber hanging about her waist. Neither took an umbrella with them specifically to be able to draw sword as fast as possible should the need arise.
“We’re supposed to find them here, yet we found nothing. …In which case, should we a.s.sume that we’re dealing with a strain possessing a perception manipulation ability?” Awashima’s voice had a grave ring to it.
Although Fushimi’s investigation only detected very weak ability levels, so long as it had been confirmed that they were dealing with some kind of supernatural phenomenon, Awashima was adamant about to letting her guard down.
“Such a possibility is not completely out of question, I reckon. If they’re throwing our senses out of whack, it’s faster to have the Captain come h—”
“Did you call?” A voice came from behind the two, interrupting Fushimi in the middle of his sentence.
Startled, Fushimi and Awashima whipped their heads in unison to look over their shoulders, finding Scepter 4’s Captain, Munakata Reishi, standing there with an umbrella in hand and a faint smile on his lips.
“Captain…”
“I heard you were looking into the reasons why it has been raining only around our station lately.”
Since it looked like their superior had been fully aware of all the particulars, Fushimi forewent explanations and only gave a short “Yes” as his reply.
“And you have determined that the strain responsible for this endless rain is hiding in the courtyard.”
“That’s right. So Captain, to your eyes, do you see any strains here?” Cutting the annoying small talk, Fushimi went straight to the point and asked only what he wanted to ask.
In reply, Munakata humphed and smiled, “Yes, I do. And they should be perfectly visible not only to my eyes but to you two’s as well, I daresay.”
“Captain, what on earth do you…?”
Munakata took a few steps forward, making his way between Awashima and Fushimi, and pointed with a long slender finger at a single leaf of the hydrangea tree.
“The one you are looking for is here.”
On the leaf Munakata indicated there was a snail. Said snail traveled across the leaf in slow crawling rolls, basking in the incessant rain as it did.
“H-Huh…?” Fushimi couldn’t help the dumb-sounding interjection that escaped his mouth.
Awashima, too, looked on with her mouth agape, apparently speechless.
Wildlife exhibiting supernatural properties, or, in simple terms, strain animals did exist, that knowledge was nothing new. In fact, Scepter 4 itself was taking care of a strain horse kept on these very premises, and a few other similar cases had been reported.
Still, it came as a complete surprise that lower creatures like land snails could possibly be strains. Moreover…
“So are you really saying that this puny snail keeps bringing the rain on our heads?”
“Wh-What he means by that is that the detected ability readings were exceedingly weak, sir. If they belong to a snail, it would explain why they were so low, but at the same time, I find it very hard to believe that it could possibly have the power to control weather…”
Seeing Fushimi and Awashima’s bewilderment, Munakata smiled lightly. “Controlling weather is quite a bit of an exaggeration, I must say. Let’s see… Perhaps, we should call it a power to attract desired condition according to the holder’s wishes to the extent possible.”
Back straight, Munakata gazed down at the snail, and it was impossible to guess from the expression on his face and his tone that he was addressing a snail. “I commend your admirable effort to turn your ideal of how the world should be into reality. However, unfortunate as it is, it is in conflict with the world we desire. We will advance with sword in hand - and I will have to override your power now.”
Munakata’s fingertip engulfed in faint pure blue glow tapped the head of the snail lightly.
Fushimi and Awashima could only watch in silence, still not over their shock. No visible change took place, and the two could find no words to say.
Only, a short time later, the endless drizzle became even lighter, until the sensation of raindrops falling on the two’s shoulders and heads disappeared. Fushimi and Awashima, mouths still gaping, lifted their heads to look up at the sky. No rain fell on their upturned faces anymore.
“You gotta be kidding me…”
“The rain stopped…”
“Yay!” a familiar voice could be heard from a fair distance away.
A glance in the direction revealed the members of the special ops squad, who all had disappeared somewhere for the duration of the break time, walking towards their superiors. Doumyouji, eyes on the blue sky peeking from the rifts between clouds, pumped both fists in the air.
“It really is clearing~!”
“What are you all doing here?”
Being called out by Awashima, Doumyouji, leading the procession, ran up to her, looking positively delighted. “We~ll, earlier, we all decided that Gotou’s cursed doll is bad news, so we used the break time to take it to a local temple to hold a service for it. And, while we were at it, we also had Kamo, who was worried he might be a rain harbinger, undergo an exorcism rite. And what do you know, it worked!”
"Was it me…? Was it really my fault, after all…?’ Kamo tormented himself, looking markedly miserable behind the excited Doumyouji; Akiyama and Benzai, flanking him, had strained smiles on their lips.
Gotou looked as detached from the world as ever, while Hidaka insistently appealed to him, “Don’t bring weird things into the dorm anymore!”
Enomoto and Fuse, greatly troubled by the roof leak in their room earlier, sported refreshed expressions on their faces.
“Oya, a rainbow,” Munakata said, having folded his umbrella and now looking up.
In the blue sky above the HQ they hadn’t seen for quite some time, the 7 color arc of the rainbow was distinctly visible.
“…So which one was the true cause, I wonder?” Awashima said quetly so that only Fushimi could hear her.
Fushimi gave a little shrug. “That’s anyone’s guess… But well, either way, the rainy season isn’t over yet, so it will rain again soon enough.”
Tossing a pa.s.sing glance at the temporary clear sky, Fushimi turned on his heel, fully intending to go back to his regular duties.