Seraphim is a Bystander

School Trip Day 2: Lunch
 
After the museum tour ended, all the students gathered at the dining hall inside the museum. It seemed this dining hall was usually used by staff, but they’d managed to squeeze in all the first-year students.

“It’s been a while since I’ve eaten here myself.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I’m usually too busy to make it here.”

And now, seated directly across from me among the students, was Lord Tsuchimikado. Just as he’d mentioned quietly during the museum tour, he had naturally accompanied us to the dining hall and taken a seat as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
“Well then, everyone! Let’s put our hands together. Itadakimasu!”
“Itadakimasu!”

At the teacher’s cue, everyone began eating the meals that had been set out. Lord Tsuchimikado also picked up his chopsticks and began eating with refined manners. I was just about to do the same when Yuzu, sitting on my shoulder, pressed her paw against my cheek.
“Meow.”
“Ah, sorry, Yuzu. Let me get it out for you.”

I took out the can of cat food I had bought in advance from my bag. She had been allowed inside the museum for some reason, but I figured it wouldn’t be appropriate to let her eat on the table, so I laid out a spare handkerchief on the floor and placed the opened can on top.
…She hadn’t accepted anything but the expensive cans, which made things a bit tough. Thank goodness Mom gave me some extra pocket money.
Once I saw Yuzu begin to eat, I finally started eating my own meal. Watching all this unfold, Lord Tsuchimikado paused with his chopsticks and spoke.

“Now then, Aoi-san. I believe you had some questions you wanted to ask me?”
“Yes, I was hoping to learn more about you, Lord Tsuchimikado.”
“If it’s something I’m allowed to answer, I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know.”

He smiled warmly as he said this. As I chewed my fish and sorted out my thoughts, I waited until I’d swallowed before speaking again.
“If there’s anything you can’t answer, that’s totally fine, but… is there a reason why there’s so little information about you out there, Lord Tsuchimikado?”
Before the trip, we’d tried to look up info about him, but we could barely find anything aside from his name and job title. Thinking it might be due to content filters, I even asked my parents, but they confirmed that only a very limited amount of information was made public.
“Ah, that. It’s not really a big secret or anything…”

Lord Tsuchimikado looked up for a moment as though searching for the right words, then gave his answer.
“It’s not that I’m trying to hide anything. It’s more that… the fact that it’s hidden is meaningful in itself, I suppose?”
“The fact that it’s hidden?”

“Yes.”
His answer was hard to wrap my head around—vague, yet somehow made sense. If he truly wanted to hide something, it wouldn’t make sense for him to show his face to us students so freely like this.
“If you’ve done your research, you probably know this already, but my main role is that of the divine representative.”

“Right, you convey the gods’ will and decisions in their place… right?”
“Exactly. Very well studied. As you said, my role is to convey the will of the gods. It’s more convenient for my personal identity to remain obscure.”
Lord Tsuchimikado explained this with ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) the same gentle smile he always wore. He spoke of it as if it were perfectly natural, but I couldn’t even imagine what it must be like—slowly erasing one’s own existence from childhood for the sake of a divine role.

“…You mentioned before that you don’t have a name. Is that also related to this?”
“Yes. When serving in close proximity to the gods as their representative, having a name only complicates things.”
“So… you weren’t given a name from the start?”

“No, I’ve never had one. Since birth, I’ve only ever had the surname Tsuchimikado.”
“Wait—what?”
His answer caught me off guard. I had assumed he lost his name after being assigned the divine role, but if he never had one to begin with… then it’s almost as if—

“Like… your role was already decided before you were even born…”
“Bingo! You’re quite sharp, Aoi-san.”
“…”

He answered so cheerfully, as if it were no big deal. I hadn’t found anything about that in my research, but maybe the role of divine representative was also something determined by one’s lineage—just like with me or Yuna-san.
“Um… how exactly is it decided who takes on the role of divine representative? Of course, if it’s something you can’t answer, that’s okay…”
“Hmm… Just answering outright would be boring, wouldn’t it? Why don’t I pose it as a question instead? Everyone, let’s think about it together.”

“““Huh?”””
The other members of my group, who had been listening to our conversation while eating, suddenly froze as the spotlight shifted onto them. Lord Tsuchimikado just smiled playfully at us all.