God's Will
But aren't you the ones who are bored?
I'm not bored at all — I'm on a trip to Japan with my wife.
I'll start drawing the manga slowly from next week, so cut me some slack.
"What are you doing?"
"Manga gallery."
"You're still on that? You were doing it back in high school."
"It's not like I never stopped — I just post whenever I draw something. That's why I didn't even lurk while I was in the military."
"You haven't drawn anything lately, though."
"I've done some practice doodles when you weren't looking. Nothing properly finished, though."
The wind was fairly cold. It carried the scent of grass through the forest, the kind of breeze that announced autumn was giving way to winter.
We were walking a forest path in a quiet corner of Ibaraki, Japan. The gravel trail beside a torii gate led us to the very place Jae-min had made her wish — Yeohwa Shrine.
"Hey, so we made it here… but what do we even ask?"
"You're the one who wanted to come. Didn't you think this through?"
"…I thought about it a lot. I just don't know how to actually do it."
Two and a half hours by plane from Incheon to Tokyo. Another two and a half by train from Tokyo to here. Factoring in the time lost to procedures and transfers, it had taken us nearly seven hours to arrive.
"If I say I made a wish here and turned into a girl, won't they just think I'm crazy?"
"…That's not exactly impossible."
A fair point — but we'd come all this way. Turning around empty-handed wasn't an option.
"How about you don't spell out exactly what you wished for? Keep it vague."
"How?"
"Just say a wish you made here came true, and that you came because you want to understand the will of the gods. Wing it from there."
"…You think that'll work?"
"Even if it fails, we have to try. That's why we came all the way out here."
"…"
"And so what if they don't believe you? It's not like we lose anything."
I could only understand Japanese, not speak it, so Jae-min — who could actually hold a conversation — would have to take the lead. It might have sounded a little irresponsible, but whether it was the TS or this whole trip to Japan, Jae-min was the one who'd started it all. She ought to be the one to step up.
Once inside the shrine grounds, we looked around, unsure where to go. It wasn't a large place, but a steady trickle of worshippers gave it a living, breathing atmosphere. Looking more carefully, past the souvenir shop deeper into the grounds, we spotted a space that had the feel of an office. A person was seated at the reception desk there, so we approached.
"Here for a goshuin?"
They'd noticed us coming and spoken first. Was this person a kannushi — a priest who worked here?
"No. We've come because there's something we'd like to ask about this shrine."
Jae-min continued politely, in Japanese that was decent enough.
"Would it be possible to meet someone who knows this shrine well?"
"…What is this regarding?"
The priest responded with a faintly wary air. Well — the way she'd phrased it was a little easy to misread. Jae-min seemed to sense that too, and tried again.
"A wish I made at this shrine came true. But the way it was granted was very different from what I expected. I want to understand the will of the gods."
"…A wish, you say?"
The priest's suspicion hadn't fully dissolved; he looked at Jae-min with a slightly dubious expression. But her face was utterly serious.
"Please. I beg of you."
"…"
Perhaps that earnestness got through. After a moment of deliberation, the priest finally nodded.
"Please wait a moment."
He rose from his seat and disappeared deeper into the shrine.
"…Did that go well?"
"Who knows."
Even if we got to meet someone important, there was no guarantee we'd walk away with any real answers.
A few minutes passed. The priest reappeared before us, his expression a shade more solemn than before.
"Please follow me."
The place he led us to was a small detached building set deep within the restricted inner grounds of the shrine. Following his guidance inside, we found a room furnished in an old-fashioned, carefully ordered style that somehow called to mind a principal's office — or a company president's. The middle-aged man waiting for us there looked every bit the part.
"I understand you made a wish at this shrine that was granted, and you've come seeking the will of the gods?"
"Ah — yes."
"I am the gūji of this shrine. Could you tell me the full story?"
"…"
A gūji is the highest-ranking priest at a shrine — the sole top authority. So my impression of a principal's office or a CEO's suite hadn't been far off after all, in a different sense of the word.
Jae-min hesitated for a moment, then glanced back at me. Was she reluctant to tell a stranger what had happened to us? I simply gave her a small nod. A little courage gathered in her eyes.
"…It was half a joke when I made the wish, originally. At this shrine, I wished to become a woman."
"A woman…? Wait — you mean to say…?"
The gūji looked startled and studied Jae-min's appearance again. Of course he would. As she was now, Jae-min was unmistakably a woman. I hadn't expected much — even a shrine's head priest wasn't likely to have encountered a supernatural phenomenon like this before.
"Are you saying you were originally a man? And that your wish was granted, and you are now a woman?"
"Yes. And it wasn't just that I became a woman — it feels like the life I've lived was rewritten into a woman's life as well. But my friend here and I both clearly remember our previous lives."
"…"
A grave seriousness settled over the gūji's face. Fortunately, he didn't seem inclined to dismiss Jae-min's words as a simple joke. He thought hard for a moment, then raised a hand to stop Jae-min as she started to continue, and spoke first.
"I understand what you've told me."
"Then…"
"This does not appear to be a matter I can answer. I am not one who inquires into the will of the gods and delivers replies."
"…"
Figures. When he saw the disappointment on our faces, he spoke again.
"Instead, I will introduce you to someone else."
"Pardon?"
"There is a retired miko — an itako."
As he said this, the gūji scribbled an address on a small scrap of paper and held it out to us.
"Go and find her there. She is someone who once communed with the gods. She will be able to tell you far more than I can."
"Is anyone home?"
The address the gūji had written down wasn't particularly far. The hard part was finding it — a small wooden house nestled alone at the foot of a mountain, set apart from the village. From the outside it looked like any modest single-story home you might find anywhere in Japan, with a tiny yard and a single tree.
"This the place?"
"GPS says the address matches."
"What business do two young men have all the way out here?"
"…?!"
We'd been peering through the open gate when a voice from behind made us whirl around. An elderly woman stood there with a basket of foraged mountain greens on her back. Was this the retired shrine maiden? She wore ordinary clothes rather than a miko's robes. The one distinctive feature — her eyes, sealed tightly shut.
"I asked what business you have."
"Ah — hello!"
I gave Jae-min a light jab in the side, and she startled into a greeting.
"We were referred here by the gūji of Yeohwa Shrine! We, um — we want to understand the will of the gods."
"…Come inside first."
The old miko sat us down at the table and brought out warm tea. The interior of the house was ordinary in a way that didn't match any preconceived image of a retired shrine maiden's home. If it had a defining trait, it was how clean it was — almost bare of decoration. The only ornaments were a pair of tall candlesticks set on either side of the room.
The reason for that, of course, was those eyes of hers that never opened.
"Well then. What brings you here?"
"…A wish I made at Yeohwa Shrine came true, but not in the way I expected. I came because I want to understand the will of the gods."
"Hmm…"
The old woman nodded at Jae-min's words.
"Wait a moment."
She rose from her seat and took something from a cupboard behind her. Looking closer… matches? I tensed, wondering if she was about to perform some kind of ritual, but she simply lit the two candlesticks in the room and sat back down.
"Go on. What was the empty wish you made?"
"…I asked to become a woman."
"And it was granted."
Jae-min answered with a touch of embarrassment, but the old woman continued as if it were nothing at all.
"But that was not the only wish you made."
"…!"
Jae-min's eyes went wide.
"What else did you ask for?"
"…I asked to live an easy life, just playing around."
At that, the old woman frowned for a moment — then suddenly turned toward me.
"Were you there as well?"
"Uh…"
I hadn't expected her to address me, and the simple Japanese for "yes" refused to surface. I just nodded, then immediately regretted it. But the old woman seemed to grasp something even with her unseeing eyes, and turned her face back to Jae-min.
And what she said next was entirely unexpected.
"Your wish has been granted."
"What?"
Jae-min didn't understand and asked again.
"More precisely — if things continue as they are, your wish will be fulfilled exactly as you desired. Every change that has befallen you exists to make that wish come true."
"Uh… what?"
"You already know, don't you? What kind of future awaits if you keep living as you are now. Well? That future that comes to mind — is it not the very picture of the wish you described?"
"…"
Jae-min's face went rigid, then — as some thought took hold of her — gradually flushed a deep red.
"Your transformation is not a curse. And for that reason, it is not something that can be undone. But if you came here because you wish to escape that future, I can tell you of one way."
"…What is it?"
"Fulfill your wish by a different path. You said an easy life of play was your wish, did you not? Then create a new road — one other than the path now laid before you — by which you can live that easy life of play."
"…"
"…Have you learned all you wished to know?"
"…"
"Yes. Thank you."
I answered in place of Jae-min, who couldn't seem to find her voice. The old woman nodded, snuffed out both candles, and sat before us once more.
Then she held out a hand toward me.
"Ten thousand yen."
"…Excuse me?"
"Kuchiyose. Ten thousand yen."
"…"