"Achoo!"
At Senso-ji in Taito Ward, Yuuji Kanbara, dressed in white monk's robes, sat upright on a meditation cushion in a meditation room, tapping a wooden fish and chanting under his breath. Suddenly, he could not help sneezing.
"What's going on? Is someone talking about me? Is it my darling daughter?"
Even now, Assistant Inspector Yuuji Kanbara still felt as though he were in a dream, as if none of this were real.
How did a lowly policeman like me, a divorced man with a daughter, end up becoming a monk?
But the Metropolitan Police Department had already decided that Yuuji Kanbara would enter Senso-ji as a monk.
"Holy Monk Chiriku..."
Yuuji Kanbara raised his right hand and looked at the radiant Buddhist swastika Chiriku had inscribed on it, which looked as though it had been traced in gold paint. A complicated expression appeared on his face.
As the first official to make contact with Master Chiriku, Yuuji Kanbara had later received special regard from him, to the point that the master had even considered taking him as a disciple. He could certainly be said to have a deep affinity with Buddhism.
Although Yuuji Kanbara had refused, the senior officials at the Metropolitan Police Department had still come up with the idea that he had great potential in Buddhist practice and forcibly bundled him into the renowned Senso-ji.
Helpless, Yuuji Kanbara could only treat this as a special assignment and reluctantly accept it.
Still, the Metropolitan Police Department had been fairly considerate, giving him a substantial daily allowance during his training at Senso-ji.
Had Yuuji Kanbara not just been promoted one rank from Senior Police Officer, another promotion would have been no problem.
Although he did not know how much longer he would have to train at Senso-ji, his superiors