045 – One Reason to Rise Again is Enough
Bonnie was the prettiest girl in the village. While other girls dusted off their dirt-covered hands on their skirts, only Bonnie smoothed her hair with clean, spotless fingers. Every man in the village admired her, and young Bones was no exception.
But she was the village headman's daughter. Bones was an orphan mooching off scraps while living under their roof.
"Bones, look at this. Roasted potatoes. You've never had anything like this, right?"
Yet Bonnie would often seek him out, offering him potatoes or nitpicking his work to pester him.
"Puhaha! If you build the chicken coop that low, the chickens will all fly away!"
It was petty harassment. And Bones only grew to like her more because of it.
But Bonnie was betrothed to the son of a wealthy man from the neighboring village. Status. Wealth. Education. Looks. Speech. They didn't match in anything.
As the wedding drew near, Bonnie approached Bones, who was doing his usual dirty work, just like always.
"Truth is, I don't want to marry that guy. He already has three wives. What would I even do there? So, Bones... want to run away with me?"
"Me? That's ridiculous. If we run off, what about the headman? Who's going to tend the chickens? And your fiancé will send people after us. We'd have to run for the rest of our lives."
There were countless reasons not to run. But Bonnie saw it differently.
"You like me. And I like you. That's reason enough."
Bonnie and Bones. There could be a hundred reasons they shouldn't be together. But even so, one reason to be together was enough.
They fled far away. To a land where no one remembered their names. Across the sea, to Troy.
Bones settled there with Bonnie and earned recognition through bone-grinding effort.
"Bones, I think I'm pregnant."
"...Really?"
Good things kept happening. Bones almost feared how happy he was.
And maybe that's why.
"Ships! Ships!"
"It's the Greek allied fleet!"
"The Greeks are invading Troy!"
It was a terribly long war. Long enough that the child born when warships crashed onto the beautiful beach like waves had turned ten.
Bones's daughter, Libby, grew up without ever seeing that beautiful beach. The shoreline she knew was always overshadowed by warships with varied sails looming high.
But one day, the ships began to retreat.
"Extra! Extra!"
"The war is over!"
"The Greeks are withdrawing! Victory for Troy!"
The end of the long, grueling war. Bones, an outstanding soldier, let out a sigh of relief. He thought he could finally teach his daughter born in war what peace meant.
But when people burst from the massive wooden horse, his hope turned to despair thicker than fog.
"On the final day of the Trojan War, the Greeks were especially brutal and savage. As if to compensate for their hardships, they marched into villages and mercilessly slaughtered civilians."
Sergeant Bones fled with his family, evading the enraged soldiers. But the boat that should have been waiting by the lake was destroyed. Soldiers ahead, the lake behind.
"Ha, you cheeky bastards. You're caught anyway—why run?"
"You made us suffer, so we won't let you die easy."
Countless blades pierced Bones's body. Tendons severed, organs torn. Multiple broken bones. Reasons aplenty why he couldn't rise again.
But one reason to rise was enough.
'No, now it's two.'
"...Bones!"
"Daddy!"
Bones burned his soul, praying to all the gods. That his wife and daughter wouldn't be trampled to death by those terrifying soldiers.
"I don't know which god heard my prayer that day, but my wife and daughter turned into trees like this. Thanks to that, they escaped harm from the soldiers' hands."
Bones collapsed and died beside his wife and daughter, now trees. But since they had become trees, unlike Bones, they still lived. Not dead, they weren't in the Soul Society.
Bones lived on alone in the Soul Society. Honoring his wife and daughter, who had become trees. For hundreds of years, by himself.
Then one day, by chance or fate, a rift connected to that lakeside on the surface world found him.
"I never reported this rift to anyone. I had vowed eternal service to the gods in exchange for protecting my wife and daughter. But the moment I saw these trees... greed took hold."
Bones visited the trees every day. Even though he couldn't speak with them. Just being near them filled the gaping hole in his chest.
How long do trees live? Manager Bones waited eagerly for his wife and daughter to arrive in the Soul Society, working hard to secure a fine new apartment. But year after year, decade after decade, century after century—time wore him down, leaving him exhausted and lonely.
"By the time my wife and daughter arrive here, I might have become a memory-lost ghost. So I..."
"Manager Bones, no matter how many excuses you make, you've committed a violation. You can't escape discipline. I'm with the audit team now. I can't pretend I didn't see the report."
"Joey, care for a smoke?"
One day, Manager Hector called me over. In the rooftop garden, he took a few drags before opening his heavy mouth.
"Joey, I heard you personally audited Manager Bones not long ago. Because of that, he got fired. Kicked to a subsidiary wasn't enough—they stripped him of his uniform too."
"I was just doing my job as an audit team member."
"That's natural for audit. Even if it's a boss who owes you a favor, you bite without mercy if there's corruption. That's how it should be. But..."
Manager Hector poked my chest with his finger.
"You're still a living human, aren't you? With hot blood flowing and a heart pounding fiercely! Are you really okay with that? Turning a blind eye to your soul's cry for the sake of promotion?"
"......"
"Bones was an acquaintance of mine even in life. I know him well."
Manager Hector seemed angry at me. It stemmed from Bones confessing his illegal use of the surface passage to me, leading to his dismissal.
"You did the right thing. But he was my friend. He had a story worth some sympathy. So even if my head understands you, my heart tells me not to forgive."
Hector, nothing but bones, seemed full of empathy. Ding-dong-ding. Then the headquarters clock chimed quitting time.
"Manager, I'll head out then."
"......"
His narrow eyes gazed at me. He seemed about to say more but closed his mouth. I left headquarters as is.
And with steps now quite familiar, I arrived at the lakeside.
"The surface air always smells so good. No matter how many air purifiers we run, you can't get this freshness in the dust-filled underworld."
A shabby cabin had been built beside the trees, one you couldn't have seen before. A skeleton guard—former Manager Bones—hammering a "Guard Post" sign into a post spotted me and lit up.
"Ah, Agent Joey!"
"How's guard duty? Must not be easy jumping back into fieldwork after so long."
"Haha, not really. I've wandered the world after leaving my home, doing all sorts of jobs. But after ages, I feel like I've found my true calling. I love this work. Thanks to you, Joey."
"Me?"
"Didn't you recommend me for this lakeside guard post? I heard you petitioned the Chairman directly. Because of that, I can stay here without minding anyone!"
Saying so, Manager Bones tidied the fishing rods by the lake. Guard duty my foot—it was basically caretaker for someone's private fishing spot.
"Joey, I've never seen a subordinate as outstanding as you. You might really make executive."
"Ugh, me as executive? Don't jinx it!"
"Yeah, you'd say that. The reason you're aiming for executive is so bold it'd shock everyone. Call it irreverent if you want."
"Whatever you're thinking, it's definitely not that."
"The tree you're climbing is impossibly tall. Honestly, I want to say it's impossible. A mortal becoming executive? Nonsense. Reasons to fail? Over a hundred."
Once a promising headquarters employee, Bones predicted my failure. Over a hundred reasons to fail? Music to my ears.
"But I hope you succeed. So, from chats with 'someone' who fishes here lately..."
Only one person fishes here. Tension rose, but Bones added,
"His one daughter caught a nasty cold lately. A father knows the heartache of a beloved daughter suffering from a cold."
A cold? Isn't Lady Melinoë a goddess? Do goddesses get colds?
Of course, Lady Melinoë wasn't just any goddess. She was a nymph-goddess hybrid. Apparently, that meant she could catch colds too.
'No wonder she hasn't shown up lately. Even when she awarded me that commendation, her face was flushed for some reason. Must've been the cold.'
"Isn't this a chance to score points?"
True. So I should do nothing. Can't afford points.
But a goddess's cold? As someone who loved Greek-Roman myths enough to write a thesis on nymphs, I was personally intrigued.
Whoosh.
That's when I emerged from the rift. A skeleton stood at the entrance—Bones's clone? No, this one was more elite. Boss mob skeleton.
"Manager Hector?"
"I know eavesdropping is wrong. But I heard everything you and Bones said. Joey, you're... a man with a hot heart! Volunteering as the villain!"
Hector's eye sockets welled with what looked like tears. He even pulled me into a bony hug.
"Audit team versus old boss. Duty versus compassion. I can't imagine your struggle. Yet you found the perfect answer. Even I couldn't."
No! If even the headquarters manager starts fawning, I'm truly doomed!
'Offset pluses with minuses!'
I hurriedly pulled out my communicator and posted online.
The hated medicine. I swallowed it!
If Lady Persephone storms the Chairman's secret fishing spot because of me, I'll naturally fall out of favor. Then, like Manager Bones, I'll get fired from work and finally return to the surface.