"Gii told me, with a laugh, that he's thoroughly investigated all these figures from the past in order not to follow their examples and has come up with his own idea: a plan-through his own subsystem of the Fireflies-to conquer this land. The children have pledged themselves to create this as their program for the future. This isn't to say that all the members of the Fireflies have to remain here. Most of them would go to be educated in cities. But they would never forget their pact and would return here as soon as they could.
Those unable to return would support the Fireflies from the outside. It's that sort of flexible pledge.
"What I find most intriguing is Gii's notion that this land is the cen- ter of the world, and that creating his own subsystem here is equivalent to creating a subsystem in category c' in the entire society. He grew up listen- ing to legends of this land from old people here, who in turn had learned them from their own grandparents, and that's where he came up with his worldview."
Ikuo leaned forward to pop open a can of beer, and Dancer took the opportunity to ask a question.
"Ogi and I first thought the incident we experienced was a bit of harassment on the part of adults opposed to the church taking over the chapel, but later we learned it wasn't the antichurch faction in Old Town at all but the work of these young boys. Do you get the sense that they have special feel- ings toward the Hollow?"
"As I mentioned," Ikuo said, "the Fireflies have gone around collecting the legends of this region, and as they've done so they've started to believe that the Base Movement and the Church of the Flaming Green Tree are his- torically important. The Hollow for them is a kind of sacred ground that links all these groups. That being the case, when a bunch of outsiders from an unrelated church comes in and occupies this historic building, they can't help but express how upset they are."
"It's like the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kizu added, "though natu- rally there are more differences than similarities."
"Actually," Ikuo said, "Gii told me that with the sacred Hollow snatched away from them by our church they do feel like Palestinians."
"But surely there are brighter prospects for coexistence here than in the Middle East," Dancer said.
"First of all I'd like to get them to consider our position," Ikuo said.
"Also, as one member of the church, I'd like to consider what we have to offer to this land. Instead of cooperating with the village authorities to sup- press the Fireflies, I think it would be much smarter to get to know them better. At any rate, Patron has agreed to my negotiating. And I want to. After all, Gii's the son of the owner of the Farm, with whom we'll be working closely."
"The more connections we have with the local people the better, I think,"
Ogi said. "I haven't told Professor Kizu this yet, but Asa-san phoned a while ago about the art school and said the local schools can't help. According to her, the Old Town faction opposing the church staged a comeback."
"Is that right? I suppose it's to be expected," Kizu said disappointedly.
"If Aum Shinrikyo had had an artist among them who wanted to open a painting class in the village at the foot of Mount Fuji where they had their headquarters, I don't suppose the locals would have welcomed the idea."
"I thought it was going to work out, having the former junior high principal's wife pulling for you," Dancer said, a note of dissatisfaction in her voice, though Kizu was already resigned to it.
After dinner, Ogi and Dancer still had work left to do, so Ikuo and Kizu left them at the office, leaving behind a few cans of beer. When they'd left their house on the north shore of the Hollow the wind had made them shiver, and now while they'd eaten dinner the wind whipping down the north slope had gotten even colder and was accompanied by a thick fog, unseasonable even for these woods. The only light was set up where the path through the court- yard ran downhill, so the rest of the time they walked in darkness.
Kizu called out to Ikuo, who was shining his flashlight on the fog- shrouded dam as they walked along.
"They say the dam was made to collect water from the river and from natural springs, but it's really an amazing amount of water-even in the dark you can sense that. One older person who used to act as electrician at the former Izu Institute proposes to redo the lighting around the chapel and the monastery. He says he'll also put a light that will burn all night at the corner where we turn to go up to our house. Can't have anyone falling in the lake, now, can we."
"The Technicians who've moved here have really been working hard.
I imagine they think that if they do, this place can become a good foothold for them. Things have gotten pretty lively at the farm since they started work- ing there, that's for sure."
Very considerately Ikuo moved behind Kizu so as to light up the path ahead for him. With this young man so immersed in his work, though, Kizu felt more and more left behind.
2
The next Sunday, Ikuo left near dawn to join the Young Fireflies in their training as they made one complete circuit of the forest. Despite his physical condition, Kizu didn't find it hard to get up early, so he joined Ikuo for break- fast before he set off. Afterward, afraid of the dull pain that sometimes hit him right after he awoke, Kizu wrapped himself in his blanket, opened the window on the lake, and sat looking at the swirl of thin fog outside. The birds weren't yet chirping, and bees buzzed halfheartedly around the leaves of the oak trees, dripping with the fog.
Before long-from the woods that ran behind the monastery on the heights of the opposite shore, where the fog was lifting-he could sense a line of people cutting through across the woods. He could hear the sound of trees being struck and lush branches snapping-all to the accompaniment of the sound of soft-soled sneakers, so this wasn't some herd of animals. Was it re- ally natural for people used to walking through the woods to make so much noise? Perhaps, Kizu considered, Gii was deliberately having his boys cause a commotion to advertise their presence.
Two hours later Ikuo was back, redolent of fresh foliage and grasses, and he asked Kizu if he'd noticed them passing by in the woods. Racing through the forest with a group of young men seemed much better able to revive him than spending time shut up indoors with an older man. Kizu just listened as Ikuo enthusiastically talked about what he'd found out about Gii.
"He seems to be about fourteen, though his mother has never disclosed his birth date, so even on his family record it's not clear how old he is. This is why Gii says there are people here who insist he's adopted or even stolen. Did you know that until she graduated from high school, Satchan lived as a man?
"Anyhow, Gii's only about fourteen, but he lives with a woman, if you can believe it, an old friend of Satchan's who came back here awhile back; she does dyeing. Gii helped her collect the tree branches she needed for her plant dyes and that's how they became friends. Gii says he finds it amusing how, no matter what he says, the older woman always replies, 'No way!'"
That afternoon, Kizu and Ikuo happened to run across that same woman at the crossroads at the main bridge. At first Kizu thought she was bald. The head on top of her well-balanced muscular body had sparse red- dish hair wrapped around it.
Just as it had upgraded to having vending machines, the general store at the crossroads had begun to accept parcel post deliveries, and Kizu wanted to check on the art materials donated to him by the store in Tokyo. Accord- ing to the owner of this local shop, a thin, gloomy man who never looked you straight in the eye, several boxes had indeed been delivered, but this was before anyone from the church had moved into the Hollow, so he'd returned them to the main office in Matsuyama, where they were in storage.