"As we're waiting for the launch of the new church, all of us new resi- dents-individually or in groups-each have our own approach to things.
There's no need for us to criticize the way others are standing by, waiting for things to develop. As Patron's conception of the church takes shape, disagree- ments and agreements will naturally come to the surface, and we can cross that bridge when we come to it. At this stage, each group and individual must examine their relationship with the local people and ask how this might bene- fit the church. I'd like to mention what I'm doing myself. As this progresses, I hope you'll let me continue to act on my own.
"Right now, through the good offices of the former junior high princi- pal and the head priest of the Fushoku temple, I've begun to meet with the local youth group. At first they were rather antagonistic to our church, think- ing we just barged in here without consulting anyone. But the other side of this coin is their curiosity about us. The reason I'm interested in them is that they're still young-high school and junior high students, the age when people still treat them as children-but there are some real individuals among them, and as a group they're quite outgoing. About twenty or so well-disciplined members get together regularly with their leader, who himself is a unique guy. As I meet with them I'd like to consult with them and report any new developments in our church. May I have your approval to do this?"
Ikuo came to a resolute halt. Nobody said a thing. The Technicians' faces didn't show whether they approved or not, but Kizu could sense that they and Ikuo had long since come to an understanding.
"I'd like to hear Patron and the office staff's opinion, but from what I've heard here I have no problem with what Ikuo's been doing," Dr. Koga replied generously. "Nothing's more important than building good relationships with the local people. This may sound like I'm blowing my own horn, but that's why I took over the clinic. We can't give the local people the impression that we're just shut up in our buildings concentrating on our own affairs, no mat- ter how spiritual they may be. You only have to consider what happened with the Aum Shinrikyo satyans to understand this.
"On the other hand, though, it was quite a lot of trouble for the Quiet Women and the Technicians to come to the decision to move here, and actu- ally to carry it out. After finally settling in with their new church, do we really expect them all to be open to the local people right off the bat? I think we want to get deeper into ourselves and into our faith. That's how very great our expectations are of this new path Patron's taking. Which doesn't contra- dict Dancer's understandable call for us not to rush him.
"Our honest thoughts on this might disappoint you, Ikuo, but what I want to say is that we've only begun. I find your dealings with the next gen- eration here intriguing. And I promise you that every one of the Technicians will spare no effort to help you make the Farm a success. That's all I want to say. Do exactly as you wish."
# * *
The next day at lunch Kizu heard from Dancer that Patron, who except for his first announcement had remained silent throughout, was quite pleased with the results of the meeting. Patron had also said something else. Dancer lowered her voice so the Technicians seated nearby, who had returned for a late lunch from working to restart the facilities on the Farm, couldn't hear.
"Patron asked me, 'What's with the former radical faction? Why is such a formerly outgoing, active group now living like a bunch of monks?'"
21: THE YOUNG FIREFLIES
1
Since his plan to run a children's art class would be using a room in the junior high school, Kizu needed to look into how this would fit in with the second-semester curriculum-and though he had considerable time to con- sider this, with the summer vacation between now and then, he went again with Asa-san, the wife of the former junior high principal, to visit the school's staff room. While they were there he asked Asa-san about the group called the Young Fireflies that Ikuo had mentioned during the meeting in the chapel.
Asa-san began by explaining the local custom of the same name. She was nearing sixty and had first heard about it as a ceremony her mother had participated in as a child. When someone died in the valley, children ages seven to ten would light torches and climb up the surrounding slopes. The children were divided into pairs, and each pair climbed to a designated tree at the top of the forest. One of the pairs carried an object, representing the soul of the departed, to bury under the roots of a tree. Several pairs would go up at the same time in order to keep the chosen tree a secret.
"My mother said her first memory of this was when she was three or four," Asa-san went on, "still too little to be a Young Firefly herself. She said that when she looked up at the forest from the back sitting room of her house she could see countless torches ascending the slopes. The number was greater than the number of seven- to ten-year-olds who lived there, somebody told her later, because they were allowing smaller children to join them.
"One other thing you should hear concerns a child named Doji, who led the second of two rebellions around the time of the Meiji Restoration. After the rebellion was a success, they say Doji returned to the forest. The name Young Fireflies might have grown out of this, since Doji is a homonym for the Japanese word translated as young.
"The present Young Fireflies group that local junior and senior high school children have formed is connected with this history but has nothing to do with the defunct custom. They do, however, assemble at dawn and practice climbing up the forest, so at least they're maintaining the form of the ceremony.
"They're children, so they may very well be drawn to the figure of Doji, the child leader of the insurrection. Satchan told me they debate among them- selves how to live in this land and how to improve the environment. Her son Gii is the leader of the Young Fireflies. When he was little he used to come to our house to talk with my husband. An odd child, I'd say, to want to spend time talking with the principal."
"Don't they say his father is the one who founded the Church of the Flaming Green Tree?" Kizu asked. "When I was buying ham and eggs at the market by the river, another odd person, a woman, told me the boy isn't Satchan's."
"Oh, that's the former music teacher at the junior high. She's been be- having herself these days, but I did hear she got worked up and caused a ruckus. A man by the name of Kamei in the former church gave his entire estate in order to build the chapel, and his wife tried so hard to dissuade him that something snapped in her and they were divorced. That's the woman you met. She still carries a grudge against the church and directs her anger against Satchan."
Not long after this, Kizu heard from Ikuo about this leader of the Young Fireflies he'd been seeing. One evening at twilight, a week after the meeting in the chapel, after a calm, sunny, though unseasonably cold day, Kizu fin- ished putting in order all the drawings and supplies he'd sent from Tokyo and was resting on his bed, which did double duty as a chaise longue, his head propped up high, when Ikuo returned. Youthfully flushed like some formi- dably featured young woman, Ikuo had come back to ask Kizu to dine with him at the monastery. His voice was excited.
"The Gii of the Fireflies, who's regarded as the new Gii, is an amazing guy, a genius, in fact. Because of this, he's quite a confident young fellow. He's so young it's hard to say he has much experience, I guess, but there's a deep connection here between this land and the history of his clan.