We entered Kyoto.
I went to Honno-ji, and my heir Nobutada to Nijo Castle nearby.
That night.
I secretly sent for Nobutada.
That night at Azuchi. I'd let slip to this son of mine, "Wanting to get down. I feel the same." And I'd promised, "Soon, I'll tell you what I really have in mind, too."
Tonight, the time had come to keep that promise.
I told Nobutada everything. That I was no Demon King, nothing of the kind, just a coward. That Okehazama and Mount Hiei were things that happened at the end of terror so total I lost all sense, things I didn't remember. That I'd joined with Mitsuhide, and soon I would be "taken for dead," and vanish.
This child had grown up watching me from a distance since he was small. If he got close, he'd find out I was shaking. So even with my own son, I'd always worn the Demon King's mask. And because of that, he grew up convinced his father was a terrifying ruler of the realm.
Now, one by one, I peeled that belief away.
Nobutada's eyes went wide, and for a long time he was at a loss for words.
"Father... you truly mean to throw away the realm?"
"Yes."
"Something so great. All of it..."
"What about you, Nobutada?"
I looked my son in the eye and asked.
"Do you want to inherit the realm as a stopgap, and live your whole life in fear? Or—"
Nobutada's lips trembled faintly.
"...I do not wish to inherit it."
His voice came out as if squeezed.
"Every night, I see it in my dreams. Myself betrayed by retainers, surrounded by enemies, crushed without ever becoming strong as you are, Father. ...I am so afraid, I cannot bear it."
My chest tightened hard.
So this child had been having the same dreams as me. Chasing the back of his strong father, unable to catch up, suffering. Without ever knowing that father was actually the biggest scaredy-cat of them all.
I'm sorry, I thought. For leaving this child to be afraid all by himself, all this time.
"Then."
I said it quietly.
"You get down too, with me."
Nobutada's head came up with a start.
"The night Akechi surrounds Honno-ji. You'll fight at Nijo Castle. And then—be taken for dead, fallen in battle."
"Taken for... fallen in battle..."
"Me at Honno-ji, you at Nijo Castle. On the same night, father and son will both be taken for dead."
For the first time, I smiled at my son.
"And that way, the two of us will both secretly survive."
Tears streamed from Nobutada's eyes.
They weren't tears of fear.
This child, who'd spent so long convinced his father was a distant Demon King.
Learning that father was really just a scaredy-cat, the same as him.
They were the tears of finally meeting his real father.
My eyes went hot, too. I'd never imagined the day would come when this child and I could show each other our tears like this.
"...Yes, Father. I will go with you."
Father and son would be taken for dead on the same night, in the same way.
And survive, in the same way.