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Last Embryo Volume 8 Chapter 1 Part 4

「Damn……!! If the third horse had won back then, I would have paid off the rent of the office and the cabaret club debt by now, and the rest would just be paying off Pritt and telling you to wait just a bit longer!」

『You just have too many debts spread all over the place. Now I see why Homura and Suzuka were saying that you are nothing but a useless old man!』

Izayoi laughs in Tokuteru’s face over the phone.

『That’s why you should have done exactly what I said. Even if the horse is good, it will amount to nothing if the jockey riding it is too young and inexperienced. And that is not just my opinion. Uesugi, Pritt and Karna said the exact same thing, and it is really pitiful that it is only in times like these that this disjointed company of yours is being struck with an unprecedented sense of unity.』

Tokuteru grumbles like he was about to vomit blood, but Izayoi just laughed at him even harder for how big of a fool he was. It’s not clear how much he owes, but there’s no doubt that he’s in a situation where he can’t just turn a blind eye onto it anymore.

『Well, I thought this was going to happen… by the way, what is going on with your work schedule and your wallet?』

「They are both equally empty. I mean think about it: if I had my hands full with work, then I wouldn’t have time for gambling, right?」

『In other words, are you really going to have to work to pay back everything that you owe? Because if so, then I might have something for you.』

Tokuteru raised an eyebrow at the implication behind Izayoi’s words.

「What’s this now? I thought that it was a sarcastic call to make fun of me, but you have actually found some work?」

『Yeah, that kind of thing, basically. It’s a simple search for someone, but it seems that there are some complicated circumstances behind the commission. The profit won’t be big, but given your circumstances, you cannot allow yourself to be picky, right?』

you can’t say it’s extravagant, right?』

「Well, you got that right. So, can we meet at Don’s shop?」

『Yeah. Let’s meet at 5:00 pm then. The client’s name is Masami Tendo by the way.』

When Izayoi mentions the client’s name, Tokuteru looked surprised.

「… Masami Tendo? Isn’t that girl a junior high school student?」

「Oh, I’m surprised that you know her. She an acquaintance of yours?」

「No, she is not acquainted with me, but I do know her one-sidedly… but I see. So it has been long enough for that young girl to request my services now?」

Tokuteru caressed his chin with deep emotion. Izayoi wondered about what he said just now, but on the other hand he was not curious enough to really know about it, so he ignored it and looked at his watch to check the time.

『Well, if you two know each- other’s faces, then it’ll make the talks that much quicker. And like I said, even though the payment is probably not going to be good, you’re not in a position to complain about it right now.』

「I know. Those who don’t get to work don’t get to eat, and I certainly don’t have the time to be living in poverty.」

Lifting himself from the bench heavily, Tokuteru looked up at the cloudy sky above him.

This kind of life will continue until it fulfills its original role as leader of the 『Twelve Devas』, and just thinking about it brought a dry smile to his face.

The clouds in the sky which he looked at with a smile on his face drifted quickly to the east. Apparently a storm is approaching, and it’s only a matter of time before this sky grows into a dark one accompanied by the loud crackling of thunder.

As he took a step forward to move before it rained, Tokuteru heard a serious woman’s voice behind him.
「Indra-sama, I’ve come to pick you up.」

「Yeah, sorry for the wait, Omatsu. And for having you pick me up as well.」

「No, don’t worry about it. Shibamata Taishakuten is like my personal garden to me, and since I know it like the bacl of my hand, finding and picking you up was truly easy.」

The woman whom Tokuteru called Omatsu, the one wearing a classic-looking Japanese kimono and an elegant smile on her face got out of a minitruck she drove here and opened the door for Tokuteru to get in. While getting onto the passenger seat, Tokuteru went and asked her while he tightened his seatbelt:

Shakuten, who got into her passenger seat, asked her while tightening his seat belt.

「By the way, Mimatsu. Do you know Masami Tendo?」

「Masami Tendo? … Oh, is that the girl with the bobbed hair who often comes to visit Shibamata Taishakuten?」

「Yes. She seems to be involved in some kind of incident, but do you have any information about it?」

As it is called Shibamata Taishakuten, Taishakuten is enshrined as the principal object of worship, and the reverence of the enthusiastic worshipers reached even those under Indra himself. Masami Tendo’s family has been living in Shibamata district for a long time, and they often come together to participate in temple events as a result.

And now this girl who had been visiting the shrine since she was a child apparently came to make a request for them, which made Tokuteru feel a little strange.

Omatsu tightened her seat belt and stepped on the accelerator, showing a concerned expression.

「I don’t know if it’s an incident or not… but it seems like her father’s company isn’t doing well. Look, there are a lot of small-town factories in this area, right? Apparently most of them are not doing all that well because of the economic recession in recent years.」

「I see. I thought that here prayers were more enthusiastic than before, but to think that there was such a reason behind it…」

If the management of the parent’s company is going poorly, it will surely lead to uneasy days for the child as well. Convinced that they should definitely look into the matter of the girl’s request, Tokuteru instructed Omatsu to head straight for Don Bruno’s restaurant.

* * *

When he opened the door of Don Bruno’s restaurant, Don Bruno, the restaurants owner and manager gave him a look of disgust.

「Now this is definitely a bad day. What are you two ruffians even doing here, huh? Whatever business you two have with each other, can’t you sort it out anywhere else, preferably nowhere near my store?」

「Well now, don’t say that. Aren’t weekdays pretty slow in here anyway?」

He waved his hand and laughed, but even he knew that this wasn’t true. Everyday, Don Bruno’s restaurant would get extremely crowded around lunchtime and dinnertime, so if their business really takes to long, they’ll really have to move somewhere else if they want privacy.

When Tokuteru looked around the store, Izayoi, who was sitting in the back seat, raised one hand and called out to him.

「Yo, Mr. President. You’re early today, aren’t you?」

「If you don’t have money or cigarettes, you won’t be able to kill time properly, so here I am.」

「No doubt…. Hmm? And who might that kimono-wearing beauty be?」

Izayoi asked while looking at Omatsu, so she bowed to him and gave her self-introduction.

「Pleasure to be meeting you, Sakamaki Izayoi-san. My name is Omatsu, and I live in Shibamata Taishakuten. I have never been to Little Garden myself, but I have heard many a different story about your valorous exploits.」

Omatsu, a beautiful woman in a kimono with cook’s apron and with glossy black hair gave Izayoi a polite bow. Her anachronistic yet fluent and pure gestures made everyone around her feel the aura of her feminine dignity.

However, Izayoi looked surprised at Omatsu herself rather than her appearance in particular.

「Omatsu who lives in Shibamata Taishakuten? …What are you, some kind of dragon?」

「Oh my, I see that you’re quite knowledgeable and perceptive. As you said, I am a Ziiryuumatsu, a Pine Tree Dragon who inhabited Shibamata Taishakuten and absorbed its Divinity for four hundred years, and that’s why I have chosen Omatsu as my temporary name.」

Zuiryumatsu of Shibamata Taishakuten.

In this case, this dragon would be an auspicious beast and the Divine Spirit of Shibamata Taishakuten, and the Zuiryuu Pine Tree is a tree with a long history and ties to that place, said to have existed there since the temple was built 460 years ago.