One of the cornerstones of the rigorous training undertaken as part of some esoteric religions lies in developing the ability to bear physical hardship; such training could include rigorous exercise in the mountains, or wading through freezing water when outside temperatures were twenty degrees below zero. The ability to overcome physical suffering is said to allow acolytes to develop beyond their mere physicality and elevate their conscious mind. The practice is mostly in line with the concept of asceticism; at the very least, the two systems exhibit close similarities.
Biku was born beyond such forms of suffering. It is said that all suffering begins with pain, yet for Biku pain was irrelevant from the beginning. Kukai’s training was designed for a normal physiology; Biku’s unique traits placed him outside the system. He raced through the training at a speed many times that of his colleagues, improvising his own unique techniques even as he did. His tremendous progression was enabled because of his prodigious mind together with his unique physical traits. In this way, the genius esoteric monk Biku--the Kujaku Myo’o--was born.
Biku’s expulsion from Mt. Koya had come four years ago. His dismissal was more voluntary than forced. He had been discovered practicing the Tachikawa methods. The Tachikawa School had been founded by Ninkan during the Heian period and was historically regarded as a dangerous sub-cult; it was a tributary of esoteric Buddhism formed around the notion that living Buddhahood could be attained through sexual union, or Fuji Myogo. When Biku’s practice had been exposed, he had made the decision to pre-empt his dismissal by leaving Mt. Koya of his own volition.
Yet this did not mark the end of Biku’s relationship with Mt. Koya. The mountain proved reluctant to part with Biku’s particular gifts, also fearing that other sects might seek to exploit them. Mt. Koya decided to offer Biku a paycheck to fund his allegiance, together with the promise of possible reinstatement in the future. His role as a fixer of Mt. Koya’s problems developed as a natural extension of this special, outside status.
It was belief in the magical powers of the esoteric religions that led to their adoption by the Japanese state over a thousand years ago. The religions consolidated their positions of favor by performing ritualistic incantations to rid the state of its enemies, while offering protection from curses directed its way.
The Shingon sect used such incantations to predict changes in state powers and, on occasion, set them in motion; they exorcised demons. Together with Saicho’s Tendai sect, their power nearly eclipsed the failing might of Nara Buddhism, becoming the second and third most influential religions of the age. Even in the modern day, people flock to esoteric religions with requests for incantations. Many are requests for exorcisms, while some ask for a curse to get rid of a particular person. Difficulties can arise when the latter is refused, particularly when the requesting party belongs to organized crime. It was after Biku’s skillful handling of one such case that Mt. Koya came to employ him in the role of managing such real-world problems when they arose. Biku of the Plains--this was how the monks of the mountain came to refer to him, recognizing his role outside of, and yet within Mt. Koya.
2
“Go ahead, ask what you want!”
Iba spat a gob of red phlegm on the floor. His face had swollen, turning a dark red. Missing teeth caused an abrasive whistle to accompany the words.
“Let’s begin with the most pressing question. Where is Kukai’s body?” Biku asked, positioned so that he sat on the table in front of Iba. He had hardly slept over the last couple of days, but it did not show. His features were bright and healthy in stark contrast to Iba’s unnaturally dark and swollen visage. Biku crossed the white cotton jeans of his long, slender legs.
“I have no idea.”
“You know it was stolen.”
“Yeah.”
“Who stole it?”
“Those Panshigaru assholes.”
“Tell me what you know about Panshigaru.”
“I don’t know details. It’s the name of an organization. Hanko, Jakou’in...they’re all Panshigaru.”
“Jakou’in?”
“The woman hiding her face, wearing black, back in the mountains that first time.”
“These people from Panshigaru know the whereabouts of Kukai?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Why did they steal Kukai?”
“I don’t know.”
“You can do better than that. You were working for them.”
“I worked with them, but our organizations are different.”
“Explain.”
“They’re Panshigaru, I work for the Shinmeikai.”
“Ah yes, the Shinmeikai.” Biku’s eyes flashed recognition; the Shinmeikai, a Yakuza crime syndicate that held influence over the whole Kanto region. “How are the Shinmeikai related to Panshigaru?”
“Some of our top guys have links to Panshigaru. Even then, only a few in the Shinmeikai know of Panshigaru’s existence.”
“How would you go about making contact with Panshigaru?”
“That’s up to the top.”
“So you wouldn’t know.”
Iba said nothing. A playful smile ran across Biku’s crimson lips as he took the drill from the table and flicked on the power switch. The motor spun into action. “Shall we take it from the beginning?” Biku offered a shallow grin.
The color bled from Iba’s face as his eyes dropped to the ground; he let out an anxious breath. “There’s one guy, Ishibashi. He’s got connections to the top. He might know more about Panshigaru.”
“What does Ishibashi do?”
“He’s Shutaro Toyama’s personal secretary.”
“Toyama? Shutaro Toyama, the minister?”
“Yeah.”
“How’s he related to the Shinmeikai?”
“I don’t know. But come on, it’s nothing new for a politician to be holding hands with the Yakuza.” Iba turned to look Biku in the face, apparently regaining some of his usual bravado.
“Okay, let’s backtrack a little. Tell me more about Hanko.”
“Hah, him!” Iba’s eyes fell over the scar on his left shoulder. He had sustained it after Hanko’s knife attack in the hotel room two nights ago. “He’s a freak.”
“But it...he’s human?”
“Yeah, he’s human alright.” Iba coughed up some more blood before looking up again. “Have you heard of the Jushi?” he asked.
“Jushi...beast masters.” The answer came from Hosuke; he had been listening until now, leaning against the wall. He was dressed in torn jeans with a hemp shirt pulled over his thick chest.
“You know the phrase?” Biku turned to him.
“Sure. You’ve heard of ‘tensoku,’ the Chinese practice of feet binding?”
“Yes,” Biku replied. Tensoku. A technique designed to prevent the natural growth of the feet. Girls were singled out during infancy and forced to wear small wooden shoes, forbidden to remove them until fully grown. This resulted in a deformity where their feet stayed an infant’s size even though their body was fully grown. The courts of ancient China placed a high value on the tiny feet of such women and they became the toys of aristocracy; records show that staff were maintained as professional feet binders during this period. The women whose feet had been bound in this way were hardly able to walk. On top of this, some were blinded and had their teeth completely removed so they could perform oral sex; they also received detailed teachings in the desires of the body. Historical records show that the women were often traded in auctions, fetching impressive premiums.
“There was a similar technique in ancient China, one that necessitated an even greater level of skill; the art of transforming a person into a beast. The technique was originally developed for warfare. Children seen to have potential were thrown into a cage with a dangerous animal--a tiger, for example. Those that survived the ordeal were raised alongside the beast, manipulated so that they became a beast themselves; eventually their heart became one with the animal. The practitioners of the art were known as J
ushi, beast masters.”
“You know your stuff. That’s more than I know,” Iba said, wincing. Just talking was causing him considerable pain. “Panshigaru employs a Jushi of their own, an old man called Enoh. He made Hanko,” Iba continued, breathing harder.
“You seem well informed.”
“Just whispers, okay? But these things tend to be true.”
“Okay. But why would Panshigaru want to steal Kukai? Feel free to rely on these whispers for your answer. Was it money? Something else?”
“Fuck knows. Not to decorate some shitty alcove, that’s for sure.” Iba tried to grin, but he only managed a trembling grimace. Any normal man would have been on the floor in agony by now. Iba’s willpower was remarkable.
“Agreed. Let me change the question. Why were you tasked to hire Kumon? What link is there between a Psyche Diver and Kukai’s self-mummified remains?”
“Who knows.”
“The playacting is not helping.”
“I can’t know what I don’t know. I just heard that there was an accident, that two Divers got fucked up.”
“An accident?”
“An accident, sure. I don’t know anything else.” Iba curled his lips and ran his blood-stained tongue over the pits of his toothless gums. His eyes were beginning to lose focus. He was reaching the limits of his ability to endure pain.
3
Odawara. The Araku coast.
Hosuke Kumon and Biku stood behind the old man as he gazed out to sea; they watched his gray hair billow in the wind. The old man’s name was Gensai Sakuma. According to Hosuke, the man was a master of booze and women. It was the same coastline Biku had visited to find Gensai back in June while searching for Hosuke. A month had yet to pass since then.
After finally tracking Hosuke down, Biku had requested that he dive into the mind of a man found collapsed at the temple where the self-mummified remains of Kukai had been stolen. Hosuke had been forced to abort mid-dive after someone cut the power. The host had died but Hosuke managed to rescue a Psyche Diver named Kagawa. Kagawa had become trapped in the host's mind after diving in, suffering mental damage during the process. Regardless, Hosuke had managed a couple of useful discoveries.
The first -- the man they had found unconscious outside Kukai’s chamber had also been a Psyche Diver. The second -- almost the entirety of his mind had been missing, having been literally consumed by something. Hosuke had discovered fragmented screams littered across his mind, remnants from when the attack had happened. A selection of images had been hardwired into the screams. They had appeared to belong to a kind of religious ritual, but the scene had been excessively deviant. Hosuke had seen a mass of naked men and women gathered in the mountains, engaged in some kind of mass orgy. Superimposed on the image had been a single naked woman strung upside down to a cross. Her head had been severed.
Hosuke and Biku provided Gensai with an outline of what they had learnt, including details of the ritual. When they finished he grunted, nodding as he cast his gaze back out to sea. “Interesting,” he muttered, standing now with his back to them. It was exactly the same tone of voice that Hosuke had used after Biku initially explained the job. “Truly fascinating. I have no idea what any of this means, but that is precisely why it’s so intriguing!” The three of them stood under a hot sun. The bright, coastal air suggested an indifference that made it difficult to absorb the weight of their conversation. Nonetheless, Biku carved a wry smile, born of the realization that he had almost agreed out loud with Gensai’s comment--it was fascinating.
“Have you made any progress regarding our discussion on the phone?” Biku asked.
“Hah! That was eight o’clock this morning! You know, you woke me up. It’s been, what, seven hours since then?” Gensai pivoted on his feet, swinging easily back to face them. He was wearing white cotton jeans. His disheveled white hair seemed to dance in the breeze. The man’s skin was still taught, making his age all the more incredible. He had traditional geta on his feet but had matched them with a gaudy yellow t-shirt. The somewhat youthful get-up seemed a good fit.
“So you haven’t discovered anything?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Biku waited in silence.
“Only the minimum necessary to secure your debt, of course. Indeed, I have researched the Panshigaru.”
“And you found something?”
“Oh yes. Do you acknowledge your debt?”
“Sure.”
“Okay then, I’d like your butt as payment.”
“My...butt?”
“Don’t tell me you have forgotten your promise of yonder, made in this very place?”
The words jogged Biku’s memory, he nodded. “Ah, that...”
“Indeed.”
“I’d forgotten all about it!” A smile traced across Biku’s lips.
Gensai scowled, making a tutting sound. “Ah the shit I put up with. For my part, I’ve been fantasizing about you night on end.”
“My apologies.” Biku dipped his head in a bow.
“Don’t let this old guy reel you in, he’ll bugger you if he can,” Hosuke broke his silence. “We’re plenty in your debt, Gensai. Hurry up and let it out.”
“Ah, Hosuke. A little blunt considering you’re addressing your master, no?”
“You’re such a pain in the ass old man. Fine.” Hosuke ducked his head, scratching at his scalp as he did so. “Master Gensai.” He put special emphasis on the title.
Gensai grunted in response, “So rude.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. “Hosuke, this much you could do yourself. I went to the Odawara library and, lo and behold, found a book on Panshigaru. The book’s called ‘The Hidden Sangha of India.’ I found a section on Panshigaru inside, so I took a copy for you.” He waved the paper so that it flapped in the breeze.
“Master, you impress as always.”
Another grunt. “It’s too late now!” Gensai put the paper back into his pocket. “I’ll give you the paper if you do me a favor in return.”
“Pay the copier fee?”
“I think I can manage that much. No, I’d like the two of you to face up--here and now.” Gensai flashed a grin as he finished speaking.
“Face up?” Biku repeated.
“In summary, I would like the two of you to fight. Show me who’s the strongest. That’s the real reason our meeting is all the way out here.”
Hosuke gave Biku a sharp look. Biku looked back at him, apparently unsure whether Gensai was being serious. “Biku, he means it.”
“I very much do. Unless you stage a proper fight to prove who’s strongest, you’re not going to see this.”
Biku smiled awkwardly. “I’d love you and Hosuke to meet,” he remembered Gensai’s words from before, spoken here at the Odawara coast. Only now he knew their true meaning.
“Looks like you got us. Or maybe I should just go to the Odawara library and look up that book you mentioned. I’m sure it’s there, we could go and have them show it to us.”
The man grunted. “I may have showed a little too much of my hand. Alhough, there’s more, another choice nugget.”
“And that is?”
“I’ll tell you once you’ve shown me the two of you facing up.”
“Looks like we have a problem,” Biku turned to face Hosuke.
Hosuke smiled, as though looking forward to an unexpected game. “How about it, Biku? I don’t work for you anymore, after all.”
“I guess so, why not,” came Biku’s smooth reply.
“Hehe.” Hosuke rubbed his nose and gave Biku a sly grin.
“Shall we decide the rules?” Biku asked.
“I’m sure you two have the rules internalized by now. Gouge out your opponents’ eyes, crush their balls...anything goes,” Gensai said. He had shuffled off to one side leaving Biku and Hosuke standing alone. Hosuke had his back to the sea; Biku stood facing him.
“It’s a good day, Biku.” Hosuke looked casually to the blue s
ky above them. He sucked some air through his nose, testing the wind. He did not look like a man about to launch into battle. “Whenever you’re ready, Biku. You can attack first.” Hosuke widened his stance in a subtle movement, both arms hung loosely at his sides. The two of them were only a couple of meters apart.
Biku stood firm, keeping his eyes trained on Hosuke. Like Gensai, Hosuke was dressed in jeans and a white shirt that showed off his thick, darkly-tanned arms. An azure sea spread behind him, glinting in the sunlight. The outline of Oshima Island was a blue haze on the horizon. A column of white clouds towered vertically into the sky behind his head. Apart from this, the sky was an unbroken blue. The coastline was dotted with occasional figures of fishermen and a few people swimming in the sea. A couple of fishing boats trawled further out beyond them.
Hosuke’s frame began to blend into the background. It was as though the energy given off by his dense bulk had just disappeared. Yet the man was not actively suppressing his aura. It had just become perfectly transparent. Hosuke was still visible to the naked eye, but his aura was gone. To Biku, it felt like someone had taken a Hosuke-shaped cutting out of the background and put it there before him.
Biku had witnessed the same phenomenon the first time he had met Hosuke that night in the mountains of Tateyama. On the one hand, it felt that it would be easy enough to reach out and knock him down, but Biku could not shake the feeling that his fist would simply travel through the man like he was made of mist. That, if he did, the energy of the thunderhead billowing up behind him would funnel itself through him and explode out towards Biku himself.
Biku was at a complete loss, it was like trying to pick a fight with scenery. In order to fight, he had to find a way of transforming Hosuke back into a physical entity, back from the background. Biku smiled faintly and extended his hands out towards Hosuke. He positioned his palms outwards and extended the index finger and thumb of each hand, linking them together to form a triangle. He positioned the triangle so that it framed Hosuke’s face then began to intone a Shingon chant; he cut his hands through the air, tracing four vertical lines followed by five horizontal, the shape of the kuji. He focused his spirit and pushed the energy through the triangle, out towards the form of Hosuke. The energy wave passed clean through Hosuke’s body to be absorbed into the casual expanse of the scene behind him.
The Psyche Diver Trilogy: Demon Hunters Page 20
