Standing at the podium, Karamatsu noticed that his blood pressure was beginning to rise, nervousness clawing at his very core. Heart pounding within his chest, the priest nearly swore the rapid beats were boring a hole through his chest. It was as if his heart had grown ill of being trapped inside a cage for so many years, and it now wished to be freed from its suffering.

The church doors had just been opened for the evening, and a few people were already magically arriving.

The ladies were all elegantly dressed with their dark, black coats and frilly scarves, and they seemed to fancy high heels. Not wedges. Just heels. Bright lipstick also appeared to be quite the trend in this small town.

Karamatsu exhaled, his breaths becoming weaker and weaker as he did such. His tongue felt as if it weighed ten pounds. Never once did the priest remember feeling so anxious over a simple evening sermon.

As he gazed around the large auditorium of his new church, he found that Todomatsu was sitting on the front row pew, glaring directly at his "father".

Despite the little child's growing hatred towards the priest, Karamatsu found his "support" quite calming to his unstable, weak soul.

Silently, he sent prayers of thanks to his Father in heaven. It was truly a blessing to have the little boy in his new life.

"But that could have been your own child in his mother's arms!" a familiar voice snarled in Karamatsu's mind. The priest felt sick.

Looking down at his notes, Karamatsu put both of his hands on the podium either side of the podium, praying over his work. He desperately needed to calm himself down. Never before had he gotten himself so worked up over a simple evening message.

"Lord...Please, if I am meant to be here...make it evident to me this evening. All I ever do is in Your will- and Your will alone. So please...if you are satisfied with my words to these people tonight, open their hearts so that they might accept me. In Your gracious name I pray, Amen," Karamatsu muttered, listening to the growing sounds of people chattering along as they filled the pews.

When he looked up after having prayed, he noticed several children sitting on the front pews next to Todomatsu, none of them conversing. Just simply sitting there with their soft, beady eyes on their priest. Todomatsu looked furious because of the sudden change in his comfortable, front row pew, where he could continue to curse Karamatsu's name. He scowled, crossing his arms and kicking his feet back and forth. Of course, none of the children seemed to mind him. The little boy was just another human being, after all. Nothing special about him.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed in the church, leaving just the stage lights to illuminate Karamatsu at his little, cross shaped podium.

Families ceased their conversations at once, sitting down in the old pews. Just like robots, they all held the same, dead stare at the priest, just as the little children. Sitting straight up, stiff as boards, refusing to move a single muscle. The priest swore none of them even blinked an eye for several seconds.

Gulping, Karamatsu forced a pleasant smile on his face, though when he spoke, his words came out in a weak, timid wheeze.

"G-G-G-Good e-e-evening..." his words fell softly, like a feather in a forest, floating gracefully to the ground.

Then came the silence. In churches, audiences don't typically speak back- and this certainly was no exception. Karamatsu knew this, yet somehow, somehow...he felt all alone in this room, filled with (most likely) hundreds of people.

The priest exhaled, trying to gain a bit of confidence. Looking to the very back of the church, he saw a man who looked awfully familiar, yet his presence brought fear into his heart.
The man's eyes lit up, a devilish grin slowly creeping across his face. The man seemed quite please to have been noticed so quickly by Karamatsu.

Karamatsu's sudden rush of fear was so intense, it somehow outweighed his anxiety over his first sermon. Thus, Karamatsu began to speak. This time, his voice was much clearer, stronger, and somewhat confident.

"My dearest brothers and sisters," Karamatsu spoke, looking from left to right, meeting the gazes of all the people within the church that evening. "From here on out, I have been chosen to be your priest. That is all I am able to say on such matter, but this audience tonight is quite humbling. Never in my life have I deserved such a large crowd in such a tiny little town. Thank you all for being here!"

Many people clapped, including Todomatsu, though his claps were slow and sarcastic, mocking the others who clapped.

"Now, I understand that this is my first ever message to you...and this message is so very important to me," Karamatsu inhaled slowly. "In the books of Matthew and Luke, we see that our loving God chose to send His one and only Son to this awful, sinful world we live in."

People immediately looked bored. It wasn't Christmas, and they had no will to get into the Christmas spirit at this time of year.

"But only about thirty-three years later was this man killed, taking the punishment for all of our sins," Karamatsu cleared his throat a little. "For those of you who have children, I'm almost positive none of you would give them up, knowing they were going to be publicly shamed, tortured, then crucified...."

By the time an hour had passed on by, Karamatsu was in tears, staring desperately out into the crowd.

"Please...Imagine how hard it would be...to just watch your son die before your eyes. Imagine how difficult it would be to just...live without them...surely, you would risk your life so that they would live...surely...?" Karamatsu rasped out.

At that moment, his knees gave out, sending the man to the ground. As if a light had been turned off, Karamatsu's blood ran cold. Fear was in control of his life, and not even the priest himself could understand why.

~ End of Part Two ~