Chapter 18 #2
The pride was replaced by disappointment.
“A shame. I thought you might discover your cunning and aggressive side after our battle. But it seems like you’re still pathetic and weak.
” He let out another long-suffering sigh.
“If you’re not here for a rematch, I suggest you leave.
And take your little friends with you, unless you want them to meet the same fate as your schoolmates. ”
Ryuichi’s cheeks flushed, and not from the temperature of the hot spring. He was furious. He stared so hard at his father that he was surprised he didn’t burn a hole through the Ryukage.
His father leaned toward him, scowling. “Don’t look at me like that. Show your father some respect.”
“You have yet to earn my respect.”
Ryukage shot up out of the water. For a second, Ryuichi thought his father might strike him.
But he didn’t. He just stepped out of the hot spring and put on a robe.
“Why did you come here? To hide?” Ryuichi’s tone was sharp, but he didn’t care about being diplomatic right now. He wanted to get right to the point.
“What business is it of yours? Aren’t happy I left? Why aren’t you out celebrating instead of bothering me?”
“Because without you, the demon king, the spirit realm won’t survive,” Ryuichi explained. “There are yōkai fighting each other to claim your throne.”
His father shrugged. “So what? Ruling the realm was just endless work, now that I think about it. Do you know how stressful it was to try and manage a world of yōkai and gods? They’re always mouthing off about something.
Fighting over nothing. I think back on it, and I can’t believe I wanted to rule the human world too. What was the point in any of it?”
Ryuichi sat there, dumbfounded. Was his father really giving up his thirst for power to live here in seclusion? There was only one way to know.
And that was to bait him.
Tweak his pride.
Make him mad.
Ryuichi knew him well enough to know exactly how to do that.
“I never thought I’d live to see the day the Ryukage turned coward,” he said.
His father clenched his fists. “Don’t test me, boy.
You’re an uninvited guest here.” Then came a long, hard stare.
“Remember: The only reason you’re still standing is because it was beneath me to finish you off.
” Rage glimmered in his eyes, turning them bright red.
“I lift a finger and the heavens themselves shake. I could end you right here.”
Ryuichi didn’t flinch. “Then do it. Go ahead.”
The Ryukage shifted uncomfortably, letting Ryuichi know that his words had gotten to him. “Are you really so eager to die that you came all the way here to insult me so that I could destroy you?”
“I came here to remind you of your duty to the yōkai,” Ryuichi said. He sat on the edge of the hot spring to cool off. It was making him dizzy, and he needed a clear head if he was going to negotiate successfully. “Where is your honor? They were loyal to you, and then you abandon them?”
“You don’t know anything about honor. And yōkai aren’t loyal. They just fear me. That isn’t the same.”
“What about my okaa-san? Did she fear you too?”
The look on Ryukage’s face told him that his question stabbed him deeper than any blade. Ryuichi had not forgotten how much his father had loved his mother. Maybe confronting him about Haruka would help Ryuichi get through to him.
When Ryukage spoke, his voice was cold enough to form an icicle. “Don’t ever speak of her . . . She was my life.”
Tears started to well in Ryuichi’s eyes.
No, I can’t cry. Not now.
He got up and started putting his clothes back on, his back to his father so he couldn’t see his son falling apart.
“If that were true, then why would you kill her? So you could fade away in the end and let your world self-destruct? Look at yourself. Every horrible thing you did was for nothing. All that suffering you caused, and what do you have to show for it? You have no family. No friends. No army. No power. Nothing. You relinquished it all.”
His father scoffed. “You act like I owe you something. But I don’t.”
“Not even an apology?” Ryuichi said, spinning around to face him. “How can you not be sorry for denying me the life I deserved? For treating me like I’m the enemy instead of your flesh and blood?”
Ryukage looked speechless, like he was letting Ryuichi’s pain sink in.
“I don’t know if the scars you left on my heart will ever heal. But I came all this way to beg you to be the man you once were. The righteous warrior my mother loved, before you became a horrendous beast who rules with fear.”
“It’s too late for that,” Ryukage said, shaking his head.
But Ryuichi could sense he was breaking through. So he kept going.
“No, it’s not too late. Not yet,” he said, almost pleading. “Reclaim your throne and lead your realm. Help me stop the World Eater from taking over this world and mine.”
That caused his father to take notice. “Orochi? He’s on the loose? I thought he was exiled.”
“He escaped somehow. He intends to finish what you started.”
Ryukage let out a startling roar, one that shook the ground beneath them. Ryuichi tried not to be frightened by the rage in his father’s eyes, but that was close to impossible. He went to reach for his sword, when the door flew open.
His friends ran to his side, ready to fight Ryukage if he went on the attack.
Ryuichi’s father screamed again, shattering the glass windows of the room. And then suddenly, he froze, like Inumagami had when Yumi read his mind.
Wait a minute!
Ryuichi turned to Yumi, who started speaking in a tender voice.
“The world had never showed your father an ounce of mercy,” she said. “Losing his wife and being destined to fight his son was a sick twist of fate. A cruel game played on him by the callous gods he’d once served so faithfully.”
Ryuichi stood there in wonder, listening to each word.
“When Ryukage came here, he’d consigned himself as another hapless victim of fate.
The same fate he fought so hard against had seen fit to deliver his son back to him.
For the first time, he was granted a chance to salvage what family he still had.
He knew he secretly desired to be with his son—not as the Ryukage, but as a father. ”
Masaru nudged Ryuichi. “It’s lucky we have her with us, isn’t it?”
Ryuichi couldn’t agree more. Hearing Ryukage’s inner thoughts this way definitely made him see his father differently.
Yumi continued, “It was a longing your father denied. But he couldn’t stop himself from caring. That’s why, on the cusp of seizing the world, he couldn’t bring himself to kill you. Something that should have been so easy for a monster like him.”
His father was telling the truth. Ryukage had spared his life.
“If he helps you slay Orochi, a real monster of a yōkai who your father despises more than any creature he has ever come across, maybe it might balance the scales and make up for some of the disasters he’s caused. Maybe it might heal something inside Ryukage too.”
Ryuichi felt something wash over him.
It was hope.
He couldn’t remember the last time he felt it, but he was relieved to experience it once again.
Even if it was only fleeting.
Ryukage came out of his trance. He was no longer consumed by anger. But he didn’t seem to know that Yumi had spilled all his secrets.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” he agreed, and went to fetch his clothes, which were hanging on a chair nearby.
Ryuichi was stunned. “Really?”
“Don’t get so excited. I’ll most likely feed you and your friends to Orochi as a distraction and then kill him once he’s through.”
Ryuichi should have been offended by what his father said, but he knew the truth.
So did everyone else in the room.
Ryukage could be their savior instead of the ultimate villain. He could choose honor instead of hatred. Benevolence instead of bloodthirstiness. Justice instead of punishment.
His fate was truly in his hands.
Only time would tell what he would decide.
And there wasn’t much time left.