Read Online The Devouring God by James Kendley - Free Book Online

She and Yoshida glanced at each other before she spoke. “It would convince me,” Nabeshima said.
    â€œWait,” Yoshida said. “What do you two want in return?”
    â€œWe just want information about the foreigner and about Nabeshima’s connection to him. She has been caught up in something we don’t understand, but none of it is her fault.”
    â€œRidiculous!” Yoshida said. “How do you know that?”
    â€œWe’ve all been brought together for a reason,” Takuda said. “I’m sure that the reason is not the destruction of an innocent girl’s reputation.”
    â€œComing from you, the word innocent means so little that . . .”
    Nabeshima stood. “Please let me speak to them. Please. Let me tell them what I told you.” Her eyes were downcast. Her handkerchief lay twisted like a tiny storm on Yoshida’s desk. “I rely on you as my senior. Please allow them to help me.”
    Yoshida stepped toward her. She watched the tears begin to flow again. Then she turned back to Takuda.
    â€œI want assurances,” she said. “And I want information about you and your friends. I want the truth.”
    Takuda bowed. “I will tell you everything,” he said. “Anything you want to know, from the very beginning.”
    Mori took his headset off completely. “Miss Nabeshima, this is going to be a long story. Let’s have some tea, okay?”
    Nabeshima looked down at him coolly. Mori’s intentions were good, but he had misjudged Nabeshima. Women of previous generations had escaped to the kitchen at times like this to wipe away the tears and soothe themselves with little office rituals like making tea. But Nabeshima was not an old-­fashioned girl, and even if she had been, Mori was an outsider. Takuda himself wouldn’t have asked her to make tea. He certainly wouldn’t have asked in such a casual way, and he certainly wouldn’t have asked while she was still crying. Young Mori was about to receive a lesson in manners.
    Instead, Nabeshima picked up her handkerchief. “If we need tea, very well,” she said. “Come help me carry.” She turned toward the kitchen.
    Mori watched her leave. He was clearly picturing himself in the cramped kitchen with the pretty young Nabeshima. He stood quickly and straightened his uniform, then followed her without a glance at his elders.
    That left Takuda the security guard and Yoshida the social worker. Takuda waited for her to move, and then followed her to her desk. She folded her hands and waited. When he sat across from her, their eyes met. He didn’t like her, and she didn’t trust him, but that sort of thing didn’t matter anymore.
    â€œYou let Nabeshima tell me what I need to know,” he said. “Then I’ll tell you what I have seen. When I finish, you may believe that I am a madman or a liar, as you choose.” He looked her in the eye. “When I tell you my story, you must finally choose, for now and forever, whether you believe in devils, angels, and monsters.”

 
    CHAPTER 9
    Wednesday Evening
    A fter Nabeshima told Takuda about her relationship with Thomas Fletcher, Takuda told Yoshida everything.
    He started with the Drowning God, the beast that had plagued the valley of his youth, murdered his little brother, murdered his son, and held a group of the valley’s farmers in thrall until 1990. He told her of his return to that valley in that year and how young Mori and Reverend Suzuki had joined him to help fight the creature.
    He told her he suspected that the Zenkoku Corporation had studied the Drowning God. He told her that a Zenkoku corporate lawyer named Endo had used Takuda and his cohorts to dispose of the water-­imp when they tired of their murderous pet . . .
    â€œWait a minute,” Yoshida said. “This Drowning God was a kappa?” She smirked. “A kappa ?”
    Takuda rolled