Becoming A Monk In Tokyo

Chapter 39: Why Is It Empty Here?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Mr. Ikeda finally got what he wanted.

Not only had Baishi Shū vanquished the murderer of his son before his eyes, he also crossed his son over. In return, he honored his promise and transferred the money to Baishi Shū’s account.

Looking at the 50 million yen in his savings account, Baishi Shū had never been more delighted.

At long last, he could finally build the kyōzō that he had been craving. What’s more, building a kyōzō would only cost him 30 million yen, so he would still have another 20 million yen left in his savings account.

With a contented smile plastered across his face, Baishi Shū bade both Mr. Ikeda and Inspector Aoki goodbye.

He had done his job and all he wished to do right now was return to the temple. He wanted to contact the construction team and have them start building the kyōzō as soon as possible. At that time, he would not have to squeeze himself in that crampy, little storeroom looking for the book he wanted to read. Instead, he could sit leisurely in the kyōzō, taking his time to choose the scripture or ancient records from the neatly arranged bookshelf, and enjoy his study time quietly.

Apart from that, he had used his Divine Eye to sneak a peek into Ayumi’s body just now. The unique composition of her body, which had been partly assimilated by her yokai power, had shed some light on how to perfect his body cultivation method.

It went without saying that he would not alter the configuration of his body cells entirely, as he did not want to turn himself into a yokai. Since tomorrow was the weekend, he was confident that he could finally finish the body cultivation method.

After going through his list of works, he realized that he did not have much time left. Hence, he did not want to waste any more time dawdling around here.

However, what he did not know was that the more eager he was to take his leave, the more Mr. Ikeda and Inspector Aoki were attracted to him.

To them, he was a real holy monk. He was very down to earth and he looked at fame with contempt. Despite already possessing great power, he just wanted to return to the temple as soon as possible to continue his training, right after finishing a job.

‘He’s so young, yet he’s already achieved so much. He’s just like an eagle climbing up the sky. He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future,’ Mr. Ikeda thought inwardly.

Be that as it may, Mr. Ikeda did not let Baishi Shū go. Even though Baishi Shū had already exorcised the yokai that had killed his son, the matter had not ended yet.

His son had passed away, so a funeral was needed. Besides, although his body had become a pile of meat pulp, Mr. Ikeda was still going to find a place to bury him.

In Japan, regardless of funeral service or cemetery, they were usually handled by temples and monks. There were two types of cemeteries in Japan: public ones and temple ones, with the latter being a lot more popular than the former. Almost 90% of the cemeteries in Japan were managed by temples. In other words, regardless of their religions, the majority of Japanese people chose to be buried in a cemetery beside a temple.

Funeral services were one of the major sources of income of a temple. As for Shinto, they considered death to be dark and negative. Hence, a shrine would not offer funeral service and usually only provided wedding services.

From this point, one could see that there was a pronounced division of labour between Buddhism and Shintoism. Therefore, Mr. Ikeda wanted his son to rest in peace at Baishi Shu’s temple.

However…

“Well, I can hold a wake, but Reimei Temple does not have a cemetery,” Baishi Shū replied apologetically.

When he first arrived in this world, out of curiosity, he had asked the abbot why Reimei Temple did not have a cemetery. After all, funeral services and a cemetery could bring them a lot of income.

At that time, the old abbot did not say anything. He took out the title deed and map and laid them in front of him, understanding dawning on Baishi Shū after he saw them.

The total landmass of Yoyogi Forest was 70 hectares. Meiji Shrine occupied about 99% of the land, with only a meager 1%, roughly 7,000 square meters of land area, left to Reimei Temple. That was before they added the cobblestone path in front of the temple and the forest around it, so in the end, only 4,000 square meters of land truly belonged to Reimei Temple and could be used to build various types of buildings.

It was enough to build a new living quarter or a kyōzō in such a small area, but it was less than sufficient to make it into a cemetery.

That was also the reason why Reimei Temple was so poor that it didn’t even have the money to repair the Buddha statue. After Baishi Shū told Mr. Ikeda everything, he had no choice but to give up on his idea. However, he still insisted that Baishi Shū lead his son’s wake.

For this, he paid Baishi Shū one million yen in advance, which he gladly accepted.

Even though 4,000 square meters of land was not qualified to be a cemetery, he could still build some Buddhist architecture and make Reimei Temple into a temple without a cemetery. This was Baishi Shu’s goal right now.

In the end, before Baishi Shū took his leave, Mr. Ikeda asked, “Master Baishi, when will the effect of the clairvoyance talisman go away?”

It had been 30 minutes since they used the clairvoyance talisman. Right now, Mr. Ikeda and Inspector Aoki were still able to see the yin and yang energy that twirled about in the air.

Even Inspector Aoki, who had used a clairvoyance talisman before, was surprised. The effect of Baishi Shu’s talisman had exceeded his expectations. Not only was Baishi Shu’s talisman many times clearer than the one made by the Seikai level Shinto priest of the Meiji Shrine, but its duration was also out of this world!

He remembered that the clairvoyance talisman that he used that year only lasted for about 10 minutes.

“Erm… I’m not very sure either…” Baishi Shū replied.

He had just learned how to craft and activate a clairvoyance talisman from the internet, he didn’t know how to end it yet.

For him, he just needed to activate his Divine Eye and the effect of the clairvoyance talisman would automatically be lifted. He began to recall how the effect of the clairvoyance talisman went away for Mr. Nakano from the Daemon Animation Studio.

Then, he whipped up a grin and said, “I guess the effect will go away after the spiritual power is used up, so don’t worry too much about it.”

“I see! Well, thank you Master Baishi!” Mr. Ikeda and Inspector Aoki responded.

After that, both of them saw him off. What they did not know was that in the next couple of years, the effect of the clairvoyance talisman did not go away.

It changed their lives.

With his astral vision, Inspector Aoki was given the title ‘the almighty inspector who could see ghosts’. Not only did he see an astronomical rise in his career, but he also became extremely popular amongst the people in Shibuya. Similarly, with his ability to see yin and yang energy and his knowledge of feng shui, Mr. Ikeda was always able to avoid disaster and picked a rich wonderland in a favorable geographical location. Very soon, he was going to welcome the arrival of his second child.

Both of them were very grateful to Baishi Shu. On every festive occasion, they would bring their family to pray and receive blessings from Reimei Temple.

But that was for later. Not even Baishi Shū knew what would happen in the future, let alone these two normal people.

…

After the three of them went their separate ways, there were only a couple of uniformed men left to guard the scene.

In the world they couldn’t see, a horrid-looking creature landed on top of a car. It had a grotesque appearance and four faces on its head, each gazing towards four different directions and representing four different expressions: sadness, happiness, anger, and fear.

Each face had its own name. The first one was Sorrow. Continuing clockwise, the second was Jovial, the third one was Anger, and the last one was Cowardice.

“Yo, this Jorogumo is so weak. That monk killed her before she could even do anything,” Jovial said gleefully.

“No, she is not weak at all. It is her opponent that is too powerful. I think even we don’t stand a chance against him. If we do not stay at least 1,000 meters away, I am certain that we will be exorcised by him as well,” Cowardice chimed in fretfully.

“Cowardice is right. That monk is really strong. Even Akachan was defeated by him and the three soul-cleansing orbs in her hand were destroyed by him too,” Sorrow added while sobbing.

“That’s three yokai right there!”

“Useless! All of them are so useless! How are we supposed to complete our mission if they keep failing like this?” Anger growled angrily.

“Calm down, Anger. I am sure we will be able to complete our mission. There is no need to rush everything. We just need to do it at our own pace. Besides, if we look at the bright side, although Jorogumo was defeated by that monk, she did get her wish fulfilled in the end. She was exorcised along with her lover… Hold on, someone is coming,” Jovial replied with a grin.

In the next second, the four-faced creature vanished from the top of the car. At the same time, a young man wearing shozoku could be seen walking towards the parking lot.

He was the Shinto priest assigned by the Meiji Shrine to help the police department investigate the paranormal event. When he reached the scene, he pulled out his clairvoyance talisman. Then, he was stunned by what he saw.

“Huh? Why is it so empty here? Where are all the traces? Why can’t I see anything? Could it be that this is not a paranormal event but just a normal murder case? But even if this is a normal homicide, the soul of the victim should still be here… This is so strange.”