19: MASAMATO’S RETURN

19

MASAMATO’S RETURN

The cherry blossom tree had shed all its leaves now; a skeleton against the sky, its bare branches burdened with snow. Jack walked through the garden, passing beneath its shadow. Death seemed to hang all around. What had Father Lucius meant, ‘I didn’t know they’d kill for it’? Was he talking about the rutter? If so, that must mean he was in danger. But from whom?

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice from behind.

‘I’m so sorry for the passing of Father Lucius. You must be very sad.’

Akiko, who was wearing a plain white kimono, appeared like a snowflake in a world of white.

‘Thank you,’ he said, bowing, ‘but I don’t think he was any friend of mine.’

‘What makes you say that?’ gasped Akiko, shocked at his cold sentiment.

Jack took a breath before answering. Could he trust her? Could he trust anyone here? Yet Akiko was the closest he had to a friend. He had no one else to turn to.

‘When Father Lucius died,’ Jack explained, ‘he said something very strange. He implied someone wanted to kill me, then died weeping and asking for God’s forgiveness.’

‘Why would anyone want to kill you, Jack?’ asked Akiko, her nose wrinkling in bewilderment.

Jack considered her. Could his trust extend to revealing his father’s rutter? No, he decided, he couldn’t reveal the whole truth. Not yet, anyway. His father’s rutter was the only possession he had of any worth. He could only assume they wanted it, but since he didn’t know who they were, the fewer who knew of its true purpose the better.

‘I don’t know. Perhaps they don’t like gaijin?’ lied Jack.

‘Who are they?’

‘I don’t know. Father Lucius died before he could say any more.’

‘We should tell someone.’

‘No! Who’d believe me? They’d say it was the ravings of a dying man.’

‘But you seem to believe it,’ said Akiko, eyeing him closely. She knew he wasn’t revealing everything. She was no fool, but Jack also knew that Japanese courtesy prevented her from pressing for the answer.

Jack shrugged. ‘Perhaps I misheard him. I’m not certain what he said.’

‘Clearly,’ she said, letting the matter go. ‘But just in case you did hear right, you should be careful. Keep your bokken with you at night. I will ask my mother to leave a lamp burning. I’ll tell her I’m troubled by nightmares. That way any intruder will believe someone is always up.’

‘Thank you, Akiko. But I’m sure it’ll turn out to be nothing,’ said Jack, sceptical of his own words even as he spoke them.

But Jack was right. Nothing happened.

Father Lucius was buried according to his customs, and Jack returned to his routine of Japanese study with Akiko and kenjutsu with Yamato.