Ogi and Dancer appeared first. Ikuo was still directing the security staff even at this press conference and sat off to one side, leaving enough space beside him so he could move if he needed to. One more member of the secu- rity staff was there, a fortyish man named Koga who looked, to Ogi's eyes, a bit of an anachronism with his rigid, possibly military-trained posture. Kizu had heard from Ikuo that this man, with his lively intelligent eyes, had been the only medical doctor at the Izu research center.
Ms. Tachibana and her younger brother were there as well, as was Ms. Asuka, who, as she had done at the memorial service, stood behind the row of reporters to film the event with her handheld video camera. The group of women living communally had taken their chartered bus back home, having turned down Dancer's request that one of them stay and take part.
The press conference began with a question from the dark-skinned reporter for the national newspaper.
"Last month at the press conference with Patron, quite frankly I felt it strange to see Dr. Koga there, since he was on the side that was at odds with Patron and Guide over the Somersault. Not that I'm saying he had anything to do with Guide's death, mind you! At any rate, I'm happy he's able to join this question-and-answer session. The first thing I'd like to ask is whether the people on the security staff today, in other words the former radical fac- tion, have reached a reconciliation with Patron's church?"
Dr. Koga gazed at the questioner with a youthful expression that belied his years-though before he replied, his eyes clouded for just a moment and a solemn look came over his face.
"You've called us the former radical faction, and it was you in the media who originally dubbed us the radical faction, " Dr. Koga said, in a sonorous voice. "As I wanted to say at the time, it wasn't as if we just went off on our own and created a sect. We all worked at our research under Guide's super- vision at the facility provided for us. Before long the entire research center was unified as the cutting edge of Patron's teachings. And our activities began to confirm this. You asked whether we've reconciled with Patron's church.
Well, right now I think of Patron and the church as separate entities. The headquarters of the church exists in Kansai, and this church is active as a re- ligious corporation. If there's going to be a reconciliation with the church, Patron should be the one seeking it.
"Some of you just laughed at this, but I think that shows you don't know much about the Somersault ten years ago. Patron and Guide did turn a Som- ersault. To say that the motivation for the Somersault lay in the activities of the so-called radical faction is a one-sided, solely political view. I reserve com- ment, but probably most people see it this way.
"It was Patron and Guide who announced the Somersault and left the church. Those of us in the church had our beliefs ridiculed and were aban- doned by the founder. But in the sermon that he gave to eulogize Guide today, Patron reached out to all believers. That's how I see it, and frankly I was quite moved by his words."
"True, Patron did say he wants to make peace with you," the reporter said, "and you accept that, which seems auspicious. Does this mean, then, that Guide was executed because he didn't accept a reconciliation?"
"Calling it an execution isn't correct," Dr. Koga shot back. "I wasn't there until the very end, but as a doctor I think I know more about what happened than you do. In his sermon a short while ago Patron used the term murdered, and I understand his feelings, but it's an overly sentimental view. It's flat-out inaccurate. I'm confident that the charges will be dropped. And I expect the media to make a full apology.
"This is what really happened. Putting together all we'd been thinking about over the last ten years, we asked Guide whether he could make a fresh start together with us. Guide was willing to discuss it, but in the deliberations that followed we couldn't reach an agreement. And while this was happen- ing my understanding is that an accident took place."
The reporter wanted to pursue this further but a woman beside him with a classic oval face interrupted with a question for the doctor. "Patron an- nounced that he will restart his movement and has made up with you people in the former radical faction. He also told us he is one of the antichrists.
What I'd like to make sure I understand is how you feel about the violent adventurism of the former radical faction?"
"If we put the two together," Dr. Koga said, "Patron's being the antichrist and the violent adventurism you spoke of, that would make for one terrible misfortune, certainly. That's what you're implying, right? You have to under- stand, though, that even with the former radical faction, violence and destruc- tion were never the goals. We were using our own means to make society aware that the human race had to atone for its sins. The time of trial at the end time was fast approaching, and no matter how the Almighty's will might manifest itself, we wanted to help make that will come true by repenting.
That's what inspired us.
"The so-called radical faction's designs were destroyed by the Somer- sault of the two leaders who had provided us with our basic vision. Despite being betrayed and abandoned, though, the faction deepened its understand- ing of the Somersault and their thinking and has stayed together to this very day. And now Patron, who has suffered more than we have-something we understood more about in our talk with Guide-is starting this new move- ment that we have great hopes for. As for this term antichrist, I don't think Patron wants us to interpret it as an evil figure who will cause confusion and disaster at the end time; rather it should be viewed as part of the painful, hard look he's taken of himself.
"Even for those of us who once opposed Patron and Guide with all our might, Patron remains an indispensable person. What I've said here is not just an answer to your question but a response to Patron's sermon from those members of the radical faction who participated in today's memorial service."
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After speaking with so much emotion, Dr. Koga's expression indicated he was finished, yet the woman reporter wasn't about to let him off so easily.
"At the memorial service I noticed you too prayed silently for Guide," she remarked. "But being a doctor, don't you feel some responsibility for what happened? You must have known that Guide had had a brain aneurysm before, and it must have been common knowledge among your ci rcle that they would interrogate him for that long."
Dr. Koga had been sitting up straight, but now, like a weasel, he raised his head even higher as he answered. "I believe what you're asking is, Do I feel responsible for the results of things done by a group I've been associated with for a long time? As you said, I am a physician, but even if I were a brain specialist it would be difficult to know, just by looking at a person, if he were likely to have a burst aneurysm. In fact, it might be impossible."
"Could you answer the question more directly?"
"I don't know if this is what you're looking for," Dr. Koga replied, "but as someone who knew Guide for a long time, I feel more sadness at his death than responsibility. Guide responded to the former radical faction's invita- tion to talk because he believed that even if he were destroyed, his death would directly link up with what came afterward: his hopes for Patron's restarting his movement. Which led me to want to participate in it."
The woman reporter was clearly unsatisfied, but the other reporter took over the questioning.
"At the time of the Somersault," he said, "in the television announce- ment-or perhaps I should say performance-what impressed me most about what Patron said was this: Although they continued their movement with the idea that the end time was coming in two or three years, he said that nobody seriously believed it. And while they were trying to get humanity to repent, those two or three years passed and people decided they were just a bunch of dummies and laughed at them like it was a joke that took forever to get to the punch line.