Kizu looked as if he'd heard this before, but Ogi gave it some thought and, though he hadn't figured it all out himself, told them what was bother- ing him.
"Dancer hasn't confirmed this herself, but according to what Dr. Koga told her, that wound apparently appeared after the Somersault. When I hap- pened to learn of this wound by chance," Ogi went on, "I didn't have any proof, but I was sure it must have been there ever since he started his church. You know-since people who start religious movements must be different, it was a sign that he's chosen. Following this logic, even after abandoning his doctrine and his church, Patron must still be an extraordinary person since he still has the wound. Maybe this way of thinking only goes to show why people call me an innocent. But don't people who are outside a religion tend to sanctify the people within it, even though they're not necessarily influenced by them?
"Once I heard that the wound appeared after the Somersault, though, my simplistic way of interpreting it was as God's punishment, as a sign of disgrace. Isn't that why he called himself an antichrist? But whether it's a holy sign or sign of disgrace, one thing's for sure-I can't view this Sacred Wound from a neutral standpoint anymore, as if it has nothing to do with me."
Ogi, though concerned about what was going on in the next room, had become more and more absorbed in his own impressions. He could feel Kizu's eyes on him, a leisurely look that reacted positively to what he was saying.
Ogi felt embarrassed by his final, excited words, but Kizu took up where he left off.
"About this Sacred Wound," Kizu said, "to use the term you seem to have settled on: I wonder how Ikuo will react to having had this kept secret from him by his fellows in the church. That might be a problem. Just as you say, Ogi, I can't imagine Ikuo being unmoved by it. Two days ago, I think it was, Ikuo and Dancer debated whether or not to have Patron pose naked in my triptych. Dancer let Ikuo have his way without revealing a thing about an injury."
Just then Dancer and Dr. Koga emerged from the bedroom. Dancer turned to Kizu and spoke in a decisive voice.
"There's something I'd like to say. I'm the one who confused the situa- tion, so first of all I'm going to go over to talk with the Quiet Women. I assume they've all heard the details of what Ms. Tachibana saw, and I'd like to apolo- gize for keeping it a secret.
"Dr. Koga says the key thing is how the Technicians react. They shared a life of faith with Patron until the Somersault and believe they're somehow privileged, so we really have to put our heads together to come up with a con- vincing way of explaining things to them. To them, Ogi and I are just some assistants who started working during Patron's period of inactivity, so it might be better if Patron spoke to them himself."
Dr. Koga went over to take a look at Morio, who was still absorbed in his music, his head turned completely away from them; then he turned to- ward Dancer.
"Aren't you're being a little too emotional about this?" he said. "I can understand how seeing Patron suffer with this fever might make you react.
But being overwrought and attacking the church organization is only going to lead to trouble."
"So being overly calm about it is better?" Dancer asked. "You said we need to wait until his wound is cleaned up and his fever is down, and we shouldn't let the news about the Sacred Wound spread beyond those who've actually seen it. But I don't think that's what's important."
"What is important?"
"How the church moves forward. After Patron suffered for ten years, he's restarting his movement-which is the whole reason why he moved here.
And right afterward something happened to the Sacred Wound he's been concealing. Isn't that significant? I'd like to apologize to Professor Kizu too,"
Dancer went on. "I opposed his plan to use Patron as a model to help com- plete the painting for the chapel. But seeing how things are, I realize I was wrong. Please feel free to go into the bedroom and sketch him as he is, suffer- ing from the wound in his side. Dr. Koga can wait a while before bandaging it up."
2
At dinner that evening, Ogi didn't run across either Ikuo or Kizu in the dining hall. Dancer went off to discuss the Sacred Wound with the Quiet Women at the Hollow and with the Technicians at the Farm, but she didn't show up later at the office. Ms. Tachibana and her brother were staying with Patron.
As Ogi ate his solitary late supper, one of the Quiet Women, Ms. Oyama, came up to him. She'd already heard from Ms. Tachibana and Dancer about Patron's fever and all the attendant happenings. She didn't, however, express any concerns about Patron's health. Instead she invited Ogi to attend the prayer meeting the Quiet Women would be holding that evening at eight in the chapel to pray for Patron's recovery.
After dinner, in the interval before the meeting, Ogi stopped by Patron's residence. According to Ms. Tachibana, the antibiotics hadn't started work- ing yet, but Dr. Koga had been able to alleviate the pain so Patron was able to sleep. Fortunately, Morio's eyes and ears were unaffected. Dr. Koga had told her that when she found her brother by Patron's bedside, his eyes unable to see, his inert form was a sort of empathetic response to the feverish Patron.
When Ogi entered the chapel he found the piano pushed toward the front and the barber chair set in front of the rows of chairs, with Mrs. Shigeno and Ms. Takada and several of the other Quiet Women surrounding a young girl with short dark hair cut in straight bangs, deep in conversation. In the half circle of chairs sat some of the other Quiet Women and, behind them, ten or so middle-aged Technicians.
Ogi sat down in a vacant aisle chair. From there he could see the bowl- cut girl was holding a large frame that hid nearly half of her. It was Kizu's pencil sketch of Patron he'd done that afternoon, the wound colored in with pastels.
The time for the meeting to begin came, and the young girl, at Mrs.
Shigeno's direction, went to sit in the high barber chair, setting the picture frame on her lap. The drawing was more visible than the girl, for only the shiny top half of her head showed above the frame.
Mrs. Shigeno went to stand by the chair, rested a hand against the high armrest, and turned to face the audience. Ogi opened his red-covered note- book. Mrs. Shigeno, aware of the fine acoustics, spoke in a subdued tone.
"We have maintained our life of faith through Patron," she said, "who connects us with the Almighty. Still, we knew nothing about the Sacred Wound. Now, though, all of us are aware of what has been happening to him physically. According to the details Ms. Tachibana and Dancer have given us, Patron has had this unhealed wound for a long while. His condition wors- ened recently, leading to a terrible fever. Today Patron is not yet fully con- scious, so we'd like to hold this prayer vigil to pray for his speedy recovery.
"First of all I'd like all of us to consider deeply the drawing Professor Kizu did of Patron in his sickbed. We've asked Mai-chan, who's come with her mother, Mrs. Tagawa, as a new member of our church, to hold the paint- ing in the chair her mother uses in her work."
Having taken care of the mother and daughter's official change of resi- dence forms and the girl's school transfer papers, Ogi had heard the girl's name before. It had struck him as urban and contemporary, and Asa-san, who'd helped with the paperwork, had said, somewhat contemptuously, that nowa- days in Japan the most popular names for children were Daiki for boys and Mai for girls.
"As I said at the outset, it is through Patron that we've been able to lead our lives of faith, both when we were in the church and afterward, and now in his new church. Still, until these recent events, the only ones who knew about the Sacred Wound were those who took care of Patron after he and Guide did their Somersault.