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 expe- riences 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 de- serve 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 inno- cent 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 plan- ning," 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 him- self, 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.
"You're pretty deeply involved with the Quiet Women and with the Technicians now, aren't you?"
When Ogi said this, Ikuo made an unexpected face. "Even though I was told not to," he replied slowly.
"But even if you hadn't gotten involved, you can't say the Quiet Women wouldn't have gotten that idea in their heads or that the Technicians wouldn't have helped out, for whatever ulterior motives they might have. All I'm say- ing is that you got deeply involved with them."
Ikuo was quiet for a while, before responding patiently. "I was inter- ested in the Technicians from the first," he said. "I did have a very strong im- pression of the Quiet Women, though, from when Professor Kizu and I visited their commune and saw how pious they are. I developed a close relationship with them because that's what Dancer told me to do. It wasn't some office consensus but more Dancer's own idea. I realize now she was right to do this; she'd foreseen danger for Patron in opening a new church here, so she or- dered me to get a handle on the two groups. Dancer's top priority is and al- ways will be Patron's safety. That's just the way she is."
A second identical light truck came down the slope toward them, gave them a wave, and passed by. Ikuo pulled their car out from under the shelter of the horse chestnut tree and drove off uphill in the blinding rain. When they arrived at the square below the dam they found conference participants cross- ing over on flagstones since the ground had been flooded by water that ran from the lake and overflowed the watercourse. Some people had small um- brellas, but the majority just held plastic sheets or cardboard boxes over their heads. Everything was finished at the red and green tents, so these people were making their way to the chapel.
Gii, who apparently had been waiting for them all the while in the park- ing lot in front of the tents, ran over with two umbrellas. Dressed in a rain- coat and rain hat, he was oblivious to the downpour, and as he walked beside Ikuo he reported that the Spirit Festival would go on as planned. No prob- lem, he said, summer-morning rains blow over soon, and since Ikuo looked doubtful he reassured him that in this region that was indeed the way it was.
Gii managed expertly to protect Ikuo and Ogi from the crowds of people in front of the dining hall, and they soon arrived at Patron's residence, where some of the Fireflies were standing watch. Gii wanted to go inside with them, but Ikuo asked him to take a message to Ms. Oyama to the effect that Dr. Koga would do what they had asked and would deliver at twelve; showing no re- gret at not going with them, Gii retraced his steps.
The temperature had dropped quickly because of the rain, but when she opened the front door Ms. Tachibana's hair was plastered to her pale fore- head. The house had been shut up tight and was humid with a close lived-in odor.
Since the incidents two nights ago, Patron was holed up in his bedroom on the southwest side, unchanged from when Ikuo had been summoned to see him the day before. Ms. Tachibana showed them into the shadowy room, where they were met by an even more musky animal smell.
Patron was lying in bed. He sat up and opened the curtain on the south- ern window. Light spilled into the bedroom through the rain-swept foliage of the oaks outside. Morio was curled up like a dog at the foot of the bed and didn't acknowledge the newcomers. A sense of the dark confinement he'd shared with Patron still clung to him.
Ikuo sat down in the low-backed armchair brought from Patron's Tokyo home, while Ogi sat down in a straight-back wooden chair and faced Patron, whose cheeks were sunken.
"Late last night after the party, Dancer stopped by and told me about the Quiet Women's plans," Patron said in a low voice. "This morning Ikuo was to hear their final intentions and make certain of the Technicians' re- sponse. There's been no change. Am I correct?"