by Otaro Maijo
“Well, more than one.”
“And they’re all friends of yours?”
“Not all of them.”
“And what was this weird thing that happened? What did you mean about ‘taking responsibility’? Responsibility for what?”
“You don’t miss a thing, do you? You know that Voice of Heaven blog?”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Do you follow it?”
“Sometimes.”
“Well, you shouldn’t. But anyway, there’s been a thread there about catching the Round-and-Round Devil.”
“I know, I’ve seen it.”
“Then you know about the guys who are beating up middle school kids thinking they’ll catch the monster that way?”
“I’ve heard about it. But what? Are those guys your friends?”
“No, no. We’ve been trying to stop them.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“There are sort of two teams in Chofu right now: the guys who are ‘middling,’ beating up middle school kids, and some other guys who have gone to war with them to stop the beatings. My friends are in the second group. But the first group has been writing about Mr. Yoshiba’s suicide on Voice of Heaven, stirring up trouble, and now they’re out beating up kids all over town. So my friends have gone out to try to stop them, and the whole thing is getting out of hand.”
Unbelievably dumb.
“Don’t tell me you’re going out to join them.”
“No, I’m just going to try to stop them.”
“You’ll get sucked in.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen.”
“Like shit you won’t. If you go out now, you’ll have to pick sides.”
“I won’t. I won’t get into the fight. But it’s none of your business anyway. I won’t be gone long. You just stay here.”
“No, you need to stay here too. You can’t go.”
“Don’t worry. I’m just going to get my guys to calm down, get them off the streets. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay, then I’m going with you.”
“No you aren’t.”
“Yes, I am,” I said, taking a step toward the door. But at that moment he bent down, picked up my shoes, and tossed them over my head into the living room. “Shit!” I said, turning around.
“I told you to stay here! I’ll be back soon. But in the meantime I don’t want you going out. It’s not safe.”
With that, he opened the door and ran out. By the time I got back to the hall with my shoes, he had disappeared out the door.
Idiot. Just like the other one standing here holding her shoes.
8
Some of the assholes who posted anonymously on Voice of Heaven had usernames like “God” and “Angel” and “The Holy Ghost.” But now “God” and “Angel” and “The Holy Ghost” and all the others had gotten together in Chofu and were anonymously beating up middle school kids. They’d been talking for a while now about the “coming Armageddon.” Was this what they meant? I turned on the computer and connected to the Internet, and as soon as I arrived at V of H I found a thread called “Armageddon in Chofu, Fall 2003,” with live posts from both sides being added while I watched:
Sirens were wailing in the distance. It had actually started. They’d been joking about another Armageddon, and this seemed to be it. Three people had died in the last Armageddon, seven in the one before that. Armageddon should be the final battle, but this seemed to be happening over and over, an all-out riot—and this one right here in Chofu. And it’s pretty safe to say that somebody’s going to die. If it was just a bunch of middle and high school kids fooling around, there wouldn’t have been much to worry about, but once the Voice of Heaven got involved, began putting it out on the web, it was bound to turn into Armageddon. Then every biker and punk from all over the area descended on Chofu, and even the yakuza took advantage of the confusion and came wading in. They pretended to come as peacemakers, but they’d find lots of ways to turn a little Armageddon profit: beat up on people and take their money; send some boys off to rape a girl, videotape it, then blackmail all the parents—the rapists’ and the victim’s—and then sell the video to milk the last bit of profit; or maybe kidnap a kid, hold him a few days, and collect a little ransom. There were lots of angles. The kids were looking for thrills, thrills, thrills. But all the grown-ups wanted was money, money, money. And then there were these guys who called themselves “Street Angels,” vigilantes who were supposedly trying to stop the violence, got up in white T-shirts and black hats and carrying billy clubs. On top of all that, the Voice of Heaven had come up with an anti-anti-Armageddon squad of its own, which went to war with the Street Angels—meaning that the “peacekeepers” were doing everything they could to pump up the violence volume. The only thing that might have helped would have been the untimely death of the Temple of Johan guy who was in charge of the Voice of Heaven, but no such luck.
But I suppose Voice of Heaven would have survived even if Temple of Johan had died, and even if the site itself disappeared, since there’d always be a new one to take its place. Armageddon was an accident waiting to happen—over and over and over.
To tell the truth, up till now, when an Armageddon occurred, I pretty much just checked out, chalking it up to a bunch of assholes beating each other up. But when it happens in your own backyard, it’s no joke.
About time you realized it.
You’re right, it is about time. But that’s just human nature. You don’t really understand until it happens to you.
That may be so, but that’s still no excuse.
You’re telling me! I need to take a serious look at myself. And I’m going to, soon, going to totally clean up my act. But I had more than enough to worry about right now. My brother had gone out right into the middle of this craziness. As far as I could tell from checking Voice of Heaven, Armageddon was still happening all around the station. Our house is near the Nogawa River, a couple of kilometers away from the station in a ridiculously quiet neighborhood, so there was no reason to think that those idiot kids would bring their riot around here. Still, there was even less reason to assume that the kinds of assholes who fooled around on Voice of Heaven would act logically—if they were logical, why would we be in the middle of an Armageddon now? If they had one ounce of common sense, they wouldn’t be following V of H in the first place. I was worried about my brother going off to join the mayhem, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. He knew what he was getting into and decided to go anyway. Besides, he was a guy and also a fast runner—and I was pretty sure he didn’t like to fight—so he would probably be okay.
Anyway, even if I was worried, it wasn’t like I could go out looking for him. That would have been way too dangerous. Girls were getting raped out there. A lot of the stuff that was posted to V of H was bullshit, but I was pretty sure this was true. I was pretty sure some girl had been gang-raped and left for dead somewhere near Tamagawa Station—I don’t know how I knew, but I just did. It was dark out now, and something really creepy was stirring. The air felt heavy and warm, even though it was almost winter.
Or was I supposed to go out even though I didn’t want to?
No!
Shit! I couldn’t. It was scary out there. I had to stay here. No way I wanted to be chased by those assholes, beaten up, maybe worse. I didn’t want to be in Caged Fury, but right now I was happy enough to stay put in my own little cage. Even if it meant getting in those lady fights with the beefy prison girls or the guards, it was still better than what was waiting out there in Chofu. That was some kind of bad shit. Fuck, it was Armageddon! But in my book they all had it coming—every one of those fuckers out there would die. My poor old peaceful Chofu, where you used to be able to go outside at night. Even to the playground…
Oh!
I suddenly remembered Yoji! Was he okay?
He had walked me home around four o’clock. It was almost seven now. Nearly three hours. He should be home by now. Yoji’s house was just a few minutes from Tsutsujigaoka Station, so he should have just missed Armageddon in Chofu. I was hoping he was spending a quiet evening at home right about now.
But how would I know if I didn’t check?
I picked up my phone and dialed his number. Riiiiiiing. Riiiiiing.
“Hello.”
“Yoji? I’m glad I got you. What are you doing?”
“Not much of anything.”
“Are you home?”
“What?”
“Sorry, I’m not checking up on you. I just wanted to be sure you were okay. Did you hear about the Armageddon in Chofu?”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“So I was worried about you. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Of course I’m okay. I’m always okay. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I know, but I’m frightened. This Armageddon stuff is really scaring me.”
“I know what you mean. Where are you now?”
“I’m home.”
“Good, then stay there. It’s just middle school and high school kids. They’ll get worn out soon and head home. I’m sure it’ll all be over by about ten.”
“But I’m all alone!”
“What? Where are you parents?”
“Still at work. My brother was here, but he found out some of his friends were out there and he went to stop them.”
“Playing hero, is he? But are you okay?”
What would you do if I said I wasn’t?
“I’m scared, Yoji.”
“You should call your brother and get him to come home.”
My brother? I’m talking to you, you fool!
“Could you come, Yoji?”
Subtle, Aiko. Way to play it cool.
“I’d like to, but I’m kind of busy at the moment.”
“Busy? Doing what?”
“Oh, you know, this and that.”
“This
and that? Until when?”
“Call your brother.”
“He doesn’t answer.” Or he might not if I tried him. “Please come. I’m really scared.”
“I can’t right now.”
“When can you?”
“Not tonight. I can’t go out myself.”
“Why not? Nothing’s happening in Tsutsujigaoka. But it’s a war zone here. You’ve got to come rescue me.”
“I know you, Katsura. I’m sure you’ll be all right.”
Don’t say that. I totally won’t be all right. Who are you to tell me I will?
“I won’t be all right. My brother’s gone and I’m all alone.”
I’d said it so many times now, I was beginning to convince myself. Don’t cry, Aiko. You’re not at your best crying. Shit! Why had I even called him?
“Chofu is really scary,” I went on. “What am I going to do if somebody tries to get in?”
“Don’t let them in.” Duh!
“But what if they force their way in?”
“Then it won’t make any difference whether you’re in Chofu or Tsutsujigaoka or anywhere else.”
“You mean it won’t make any difference if I end up getting gang-raped and left for dead?”
What are you saying! Stop talking like that! You aren’t even making sense. You just called to find out whether Yoji was safe at home. So why were you insisting now that he head straight for all the trouble in Chofu? How stupid and selfish can you get?
“Okay, okay,” Yoji said at last. “Hold on. I’m actually in Chofu now. I’ll come right over.”
Really?
“Really? Where are you?”
“I just said, I’m in Chofu.”
“But where in Chofu?”
“Right near your house.”
“Really? Why? Are you back at the playground?”
“No! Why would I be there? Anyway, hold on, I’ll be right over.”
“But I don’t understand. Where are you?”
“Like I said, I’m right nearby. I’ll be over in a minute.”
What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck? What was he doing in Chofu? Hadn’t he ever gone home? Why was he hanging around here?
“Yoji, are you out banging with the Armageddon boys?”
“Don’t be an idiot! I had something I had to do.”
