Somersault (92 page)

“From the bottom of our hearts, we wish Patron well in establishing his Church of the New Man. Some of the media reported that after he and Guide left the church we lost all hope and Patron feared we would commit mass suicide. So he made statements making fun of our belief, saying it was ridiculous, so we no longer seriously considered dying. That was his plan all along, the articles said.

“When we read these articles we couldn’t believe them. It was just too simplistic. We were outraged, because if what they said was true, it was an insult to the Quiet Women. But after what just took place, we’ve had to rethink our position. Patron didn’t calculate anything. He was simply
afraid
.… This time
were
going to take the initiative and pass away. After that, if Patron makes another calculated Somersault, it won’t have any meaning.”

Ogi was at a loss for words. He felt hopelessly naive and impotent. He told himself over and over he couldn’t cry in front of Ms. Takada, with her pale smooth skin over one eye.

Giving Ogi’s shoulder an almost cruelly strong thump, Ikuo addressed the three women. “The sun’s getting a little hot, and I think we’re about finished here, so we’d better be getting along. Please excuse Ogi for not keeping
his promise about not interrupting. As everyone says, he’s terribly innocent.… Please take Gii’s car back to the Hollow. I’m going to go with Ogi to the Farm. Don’t worry, he won’t break your trust anymore.”

“At last night’s party, backstage, we settled things with Mr. Hanawa,” Ms. Oyama said. “If they were really to oppose us, our occupation of the chapel wouldn’t last very long.”

Mrs. Shigeno turned to Ogi, who was flushed and completely unnerved by what he’d heard. “Trying to get in touch with the police would be even more futile,” she warned. “We’ve given a lot of thought to the arrangements for our ascent and have come up with several possible scenarios. If you try to do something, first of all Ikuo will stop you. But even if you get through to the police and they show up, we’ll just hole up in the chapel that much earlier, with the Technicians standing guard. If there isn’t time for the poison to work, the windows in the chapel are just the right height for hanging. There are footstools in the chapel already, and we’ve laid in a stock of rope.”

2

Many cars were parked inside and outside the Farm, cars not left over from the party the previous night. Three RVs were parked in the meadow opposite the entrance, all with curtains drawn. Activity had begun at the Farm, with nothing left over from the party. Some young people in the open space in front of the buildings were cleaning up, others were transporting mountains of garbage bags, while still others were removing the party decorations from the roof and side walls of the barn. Technicians were supervising each of these groups. Visitors were walking around, looking at the meat-processing plant from outside, checking the enlargements being made to the chicken coops.

Before Ikuo and Ogi could get out of their car, a young Firefly whose face Ogi remembered came over, eager to carry out his assigned duties.

“Mr. Hanawa is working behind the warehouse,” he said, “and told me to tell you to meet him over there.” On the north side of the grassy meadow, where all sorts of activities were going on, stood a food manufacturing facility, but Ikuo and Ogi walked on the west side, which was deserted except for two large warehouses, and continued down a narrow path between them, coming out to a spot like a garden in a mountain retreat between a quiet grove of oaks and beeches. One could sense the calm life of the person living there.

On the north side stood an old two-story western-style house, which was where Satchan, the farm’s owner, lived. The well-tended land sloped gently
down from west to south to a woods with evergreen oaks, and in the midst of the dark foliage they could see the roof of the house where Gii and Mayumi lived.

Below the eaves of the house was a pile of thick pine logs, each about twenty inches in diameter. On their near side, Mr. Hanawa was working.
Working
might not be the right word for it, for there was a calm about him as he squatted there, as if it was his habit to be lost in quiet contemplation. From the slope there was a line of thick birches and oaks as a windbreak. The foliage of the trees, higher than the roof of the house, cut off the sunlight, making a cozy little spot just perfect for Mr. Hanawa to do simple tasks and to meditate.

Before Ikuo and Ogi approached him, Mr. Hanawa stood up, holding a wooden-handled tool with a metal Y at the end. At his feet in their canvas shoes, long stumps of finger-width-size roots lay scattered.

“A motorized weed cutter would make short work of these. Mountain azaleas put out buds again before you know it,” Mr. Hanawa said, explaining what he was doing. “Yesterday and today we have guests staying at the Technicians’ office, so let’s talk here.” He threw Ogi a look.

“I want Ogi to know everything that’s going on,” Ikuo explained. “The Quiet Women are on track with their plans, though they may occupy the chapel a little earlier than planned. If they have to do that it’ll be a bit troublesome to kick out any visitors who might happen to be there.”

“If the police find out we’ll have to mobilize the Technicians,” Mr. Hanawa said. “The Fireflies will have their hands full with the Spirit Festival.”

At this point Ogi couldn’t help but break his promise again. Standing beside Ikuo, who was so businesslike, Ogi said, his emotions bare, “The Technicians aren’t going to intervene in what the Quiet Women are planning to do?”

Mr. Hanawa clearly shrank back from Ogi’s words, but Ogi didn’t flinch. He waited, making it clear he wanted an answer. Finally Mr. Hanawa settled down enough to respond.

“I never really knew the Quiet Women until we moved here,” he said, “but during these past ten years aren’t they the ones who’re most exhausted by it all? Even if we try to prevent them by force, I think eventually they’re going to do what they want to do, so they might as well carry out their plan at the same time as the inaugural sermon announcing the Church of the New Man. It’s ideal timing for them. Who are we to mess it up?

“With the Church of the New Man as our base, we Technicians plan to reconsider what we tried to do in Izu. Patron and Guide’s Somersault made those earlier plans fizzle out, but we don’t think we should simply abandon the idea of a millennial kingdom to follow or our plan to bring the Japanese
people to repentance. Patron has his Church of the New Man, and likewise we have our plans that we’ve reworked over the past ten years. Their Somersault gave us time to let these ideas mature. Since we’ve faced these issues head-on, we want to respect the freedom of the Quiet Women to take whatever actions they’ve thought long and hard about, so we’re going to help fulfill the atonement of these twenty-five women.”

“You idiot!”

Groaning this out, Ogi lunged at Mr. Hanawa, who, with his free arm—careful not to touch Ogi with the metal-tipped tool he held—lunged back and blocked him.

“Hear me out,” Mr. Hanawa said, not at all out of breath. “At the time of the Somersault we were going to blow a nuclear power plant to kingdom come, and we didn’t mind passing away in the process. Why should we cling to this degenerate world? But we couldn’t just abandon the plan for a millennial kingdom of repentance. So we were exposed to ridicule.

“This shows how innocent we are, perhaps, but we believed that our decision and Patron’s plans deep down had something in common. Once we had that troubled meeting with Guide, though, our illusions vanished. The only option left for us was to lead the Church of the New Man as a starting point for our reign of repentance. We’re going to have Professor Kizu paint a fourth panel depicting the atonement of the Quiet Women.”

This time Ogi lunged at Mr. Hanawa without a word. Never having fought anyone before, he missed, punching the air, while his exposed neck was slammed with a cudgel-like fist and he collapsed to the ground.

When he opened his eyes, his saw Mr. Hanawa’s canvas shoes moving right in front of his eyes. He hunched his neck to avoid the kick he thought was coming, but the boot tips were merely poking at what looked like an inlaid bat in the short cut grass. Once he realized that dark object was a neatly cut stump, Ogi staggered to his feet.

Rubbing his upper right arm, Ikuo calmly assessed the situation. “Another promise down the drain.… Mr. Hanawa, we’re going to go speak with Patron. That’s the only way Ogi will be convinced, don’t you think? I’ll have the Fireflies report in detail on the Quiet Women’s movement up until they enter the chapel. Thanks in advance for your help.

“Before we see Patron, though, there’s something the Quiet Women asked me to do,” Ikuo said to Ogi. “First we’ll stop by Dr. Koga’s clinic. He’s working independently here, though of course he’s originally a colleague of the Izu research guys, and I know he keeps in close touch with Mr. Hanawa, not to mention the Quiet Women. So no more going out on your own and breaking your promise, okay?”

The reception area in the clinic was empty. Dr. Koga was sitting alone in front of a desk in an examination room, the one with Kizu’s watercolor. He watched Ikuo come in with his paper bag and then frowned when he saw Ogi bringing up the rear. Hesitantly he said, “Mrs. Shigeno called me.”

“Ogi knows what the situation is,” Ikuo began. “I came over to leave this with you. Ogi is opposed to the Quiet Women’s decision, and opposed to having the Technicians guard them, but he’s not going to be scheming to outmaneuver them or anything. Could you take a look at his head?”

Ogi was once more aware of the pain in the back of his head, but he remained seated. Dr. Koga came over to look at him from behind and touched the tender part.

“This is pretty bad. Hit by a fist, were you? You have an abrasion.”

Ogi had thought he’d been sweating, but it was blood dripping down. Dr. Koga brushed aside Ogi’s hand as he reached out to touch his head, and after applying pressure for a time he took the bottle Ikuo had given him and disappeared into the deserted pharmacy.

Dr. Koga came back with some antiseptic and treated Ogi’s wound; then, as if suddenly remembering something, he asked Ikuo to show him his right hand. Ikuo ignored him.

“Do you
really
think this is for the best?” Ogi persisted, but he was so upset he choked up and couldn’t go on.

“The Quiet Women have given it a lot of thought,” Dr. Koga replied, sitting down at his desk again. “The Technicians have had some bitter experiences these past ten years too, but I’m not about to make any presumptuous remarks. Don’t you think we should respect the intentions of people who deserve our sympathy? What should the Technicians do? If the Quiet Women ask them to stand guard, that’s all they
can
do.… When all’s said and done, I’m going to stick with whatever Ikuo’s planned. This isn’t just some spur-of-the-moment idea, mind you. Not that the Technicians would allow me to act on my own, anyway.”

“I don’t know the legalities of it, but can’t you be charged with aiding and abetting a suicide?” Ogi asked.

“With these women putting their lives on the line, would that really be such a big deal?” Dr. Koga asked. “Ikuo, haven’t you talked with our innocent youth here about the other path?”

Ikuo turned to Dr. Koga and let his large head slump forward. When he spoke, he seemed to be feeling his way through what he wanted to say.

“I don’t think I have the right to express any misgivings about what these church veterans—both the Quiet Women and the Technicians—are planning,” Ikuo said. “The same holds true for Dr. Koga. But I do still believe
that what Patron decides is even more important. If there’s another option based on what Patron wants, I’d hope we can get the Quiet Women to switch over to it in time. I’ll be the one who does that—with your help, of course, doctor. As for you, Ogi, I’d like you to watch from the sidelines. There’s no need to explain every detail.”

“That’s exactly right, Ogi,” Dr. Koga said. “I’ll bring over the package at exactly noon, Ikuo.… And whatever you do, don’t mix up the two bags.”

Ogi noticed that the way Dr. Koga carried himself, his expression, and the tremor in his voice were all something new. Ogi also caught a whiff of distilled spirits. On Dr. Koga’s desk he saw a flask and an empty glass. Ikuo stood up. Ignoring this, Dr. Koga reached out for the flask. Standing up himself, Ogi couldn’t help but say something.

“The Quiet Women say that they’ve seen now what a coward Patron is. If that’s true, why don’t they just leave and go back to their children? If they feel they’ve seen through him, why in the world do they feel they have to take poison? What good will
that
possibly do?”

“What’s important for them isn’t Patron’s character but his
being
,” Dr. Koga said enigmatically. “Though I’m sure there are still some women in the Kansai headquarters who don’t think that way.”

3

As Ogi sat next to Ikuo as they drove off toward the Hollow, the sky, which had been clear all morning, suddenly grew overcast. With one part of the Spirit Festival scheduled for that afternoon, the road going down to the Hollow from the Shikoku highway bypass was already crowded. Ikuo chose the road that went up below the Mansion. The cloudy sky looked ominous, and the road below the pass, covered with its thick canopy of overgrown branches of evergreen oaks and beeches, was gloomy and dusky. Finally, heavy raindrops began to fall.

Headlights were coming down toward them, but they couldn’t very well pull off to let the vehicle pass with the shoulder on the river side so obviously uncertain. The lights turned out to be those of a truck that had gone to dump some of the garbage containers hastily set up below the dam. Ikuo docilely reversed the car. After backing up for a long while, he stopped against an old horse chestnut tree to let the truck pass. The driver, a town employee Ikuo knew, had his window rolled down despite the rain, and he shouted out to Ikuo that another truck was following him, so Ogi and Ikuo waited under the shadows of the large branches.