Kizu and Dr. Koga looked intently at each other. Kizu felt all over again the closeness he'd begun to feel toward this other man. Dr. Koga was visibly exhausted but, with his characteristic magnanimity, was trying to follow his colleagues in their new activities. Wasn't this exactly what Kizu was trying to do with Ikuo? As was his habit after many years in America, Kizu spoke aloud what he'd already convinced himself of, to make sure of his thoughts.
"Dr. Koga, you consider the Technicians kindred spirits, but at the same time you feel apart from them enough to keep an eye on them. You want to participate with them yet keep your distance."
"That's correct," Dr. Koga replied, his eyes at once both slightly wor- ried and fdled with a sharp intelligence. "When you said you were moving to Shikoku despite your cancer, I can tell you I was envious. This is a person, I thought, who is truly free.
"I've trained with the Technicians, and as long as I can I want to help them out. The thought occurred to me that it wouldn't be so bad to end my days as a small-town doctor here in this valley, but if Patron and the Techni- cians get in a confrontation, I imagine I'd leave here with them.
"When I think about the future, I have the distinct feeling that some- day soon I'm going to be in a difficult fix because of the Technicians: lament- ing that we should justget on with it and ending up in some desperate struggle.
Still-like you and Ikuo-the fact is, I accompanied them here. Maybe I in- vited you out today because of this simple yet subtle feeling of empathy? I don't know."
"I'm not saying this to you as patient-to-doctor," Kizu said, "but my intuition tells me I have a lot of time left to be with you before cancer makes me withdraw from the front lines."
Dr. Koga gave him a happy, sympathetic smile, but, veteran physician that he was, he wasn't about to give any hasty words of encouragement. He urged Kizu to stand up, and when they both did he briskly folded up the plastic sheets they'd been sitting on, stuffed them in his pocket, and made a new suggestion.
"Why don't we drive upstream a little? You came into this region by going up the Kame River from the Old Town area, right? If you go up- stream a bit more you'll feel you're in the middle of the main mountain range in Shikoku. It's quite interesting from a geopolitical standpoint because it's the crossroads leading to Kochi on the one hand and Matsuyama on the other.
"In medieval days the Tosa armies advanced up to that point. Asa-san told me when she was little and didn't obey her parents they'd scare her by saying, 'General Chosokabe's coming to get you!"
Dr. Koga wasn't just knowledgeable about local history, he was well acquainted with the local topography too, and he took them down a differ- ent road through the woods, one that brought them down to the prefectural road that ran along the river. Kizu was sure the road was a dead end shut off by the mountains, but after passing several hamlets that dotted the roadside they came out onto the road along the valley that ascended to the northeast.
The tree branches overhanging the road, with their green leaves freshened by a recent rain, had an animalistic power, and it struck Kizu that he really was living in deep mountain recesses.
The crossroads leading to the two local cities Dr. Koga had spoken of was a broad basin, the field there much more extensive than in anything in Maki Town, let alone Kame Village before it was incorporated. Dr. Koga avoided the road leading to the hollow where there were rows of old tradesmen's houses, and did a U-turn at one corner of the road the bus ran along. Dr. Koga hadn't said a word nearly the whole hour they'd been driving, but as they arrived at the road that went back home he finally spoke.
"What with their shrine with a huge gingko tree and their old noodle shops, you can really see the region's cultural differences here. It suddenly popped into my mind that this might lead to a bit of rivalry. Ikuo and the Technicians are coming here with a light truck today. Did you know that?"
"No," Kizu said.
"The wife of the town barber had a religious awakening and decided to move in with the church. Her little daughter has a terrible disease they've been able to control with a cortisone-like medicine, but the side effects are terrible. A doctor at the Red Cross Hospital recommended me to her, and she's been coming to my clinic every week.
"The girl's mother was quite moved by the Quiet Women's prayer meetings. Before long she said she wanted to renounce the world and move to the Hollow with her daughter. There wasn't any precedent for it-we have yet to welcome the second and third waves of followers, after all-so it's proved to be a sticky problem.
"Still, Dancer said it was better to have her there than to have to en- trust Patron to some barber they didn't know anything about, so the woman was allowed in as a onetime exception. Seeing how things stood, the woman decided to work as a barber in the Hollow. The barbershop had two spe- cial barber chairs. She claimed one was hers and wanted to bring it with her, but her husband refused point-blank. Ikuo and the others are coming today to pick up that precious barber chair. They'll also bring the mother and her daughter back with them. The husband has rallied a few of his relatives and longtime customers, who are ready to stop them by force if necessary."
Dr. Koga finished his story, and some time passed. When they arrived at a spot where they could see the buildings of the elementary school on the other side of the bridge spanning the deep valley, a light truck passed them from behind. They didn't see who was driving, but in the truck bed they saw a large barber chair wrapped in quilts and tied down with rope. Kizu and Dr. Koga could see the backs of two cold-looking men huddled together; they watched until the truck and the men disappeared into the growth of trees overhanging the road.
3
Ikuo was back in the house on the north shore for the first time in quite a while and had been modeling all morning. The third panel of the triptych, the central piece, was still blank, but Kizu was working on the first and sec- ond panels simultaneously.
The day before, according to Ms. Tachibana, Ikuo and Dancer had quarreled in the office over Kizu's painting, and Kizu was concerned. He didn't mention this, though, as he painted, continuing to work silently on details until, before long, Ikuo broached the subject.
"You don't need to feel responsible, Professor, but I sounded Dancer out about having Patron model for you nude from the waist up. For what- ever reason she blew a gasket. It was quite a mess."
"Patron nude from the waist up? Hmmm," Kizu mused, his brush poised in midair. "What sort of scene are you imagining?"
"Nothing definite. But if the third panel of the triptych is going to show Jonah debating God, don't you need a model for God?"
"So you're envisioning Patron as the God Jonah complains to?" Kizu asked. "But Patron raised a banner of revolt against God, said everything he'd done was a joke, and denied his relationship with God!
"Just as the Fireflies see you as Jonah, I've been viewing you as a Jonah- like person in my work here. But as you've expressed your doubts about it, for the sake of argument let's say that what's written in the book of Jonah isn't the end of the story, that Jonah rejects God's sermon to him, laughs in his face, and leaves. Isn't that close to what Patron did with his Somersault?"
Kizu laid his brush and palette aside and sat down. The reflected light from the lake was so intense he'd moved his easel farther back in the room, and Ikuo was posing near the kitchen. He went over to the leaf-framed win- dow to retrieve his robe. As he walked in front of Kizu, the strong reflection from outside etched his profile from his nose to his chin as distinctly as if they had been made from neon tubing.