An image of Takahara appeared in the back of Yoshiko’s mind.
“Maybe you can dream. If you’re alive, you must have a dream, even if it’s something very small. Something you can affirm in the world. Even if we ourselves are the only change we can make in the world—just adding that one positive attitude—that’s something. Let’s just do simple good things. If everyone in Japan chipped in one hundred yen, we’d have twelve billion yen. It would be enough to change the world. In our day-to-day lives, let’s all do just a little bit. Care about something; be a gear in the machine that will turn this world toward good.”
There was a burst of applause. But that applause was not for Yoshiko’s words. It was for all of humanity. It was an act of encouragement. Humans are imperfect and unstable, but somehow keep on living. Shotaro. Yoshiko whispered his name in her head. Amid all the applause, she looked at his photo. I will not go to you yet. There’s still a lot I have to do. I have to help those in front of me. I also have to help those cult members who have been imprisoned. They may say I’m a nuisance, but I will live like you did.
Yoshiko was already old, but there was still a passion burning inside her.
Life is strange. Yoshiko smiled. I never had children, but I wound up surrounded by all these kids.
“Everyone, I am a human. I’m unstable, but I am human.”
The applause continued, and cheers rang out.
“Let’s go on living together!”
The rain suddenly stopped.
I’m still not used to this weather, Narazaki thought. You always have to have an umbrella. The people here don’t seem to mind getting wet. Maybe since rain is part of nature, getting wet is natural.
There was some money set aside in Matsuo’s will to create teams to do volunteer work overseas. The various groups split up the money and started different organizations. Narazaki’s group was using the money to buy freedom for young prostitutes. They set up a facility where those girls could live and attend school.
Meanwhile, Tachibana was still fighting the courts. Mineno was living with Yoshiko in the mansion.
Narazaki didn’t feel entirely settled. He worried about an attack on their school, that an armed organization might try to kidnap the girls studying there. The anxious voices in his head never quieted. And their plan was still not on track. The local police and military wanted bribes in exchange for cooperation. Not all of them were trustworthy.
There was nothing to interrupt Narazaki’s view. He’d climbed a small hill and sat on the gravel at the top. I’ve come far, he thought. Narazaki still wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life. When he closed his eyes, he saw the bodies of women from the cult. He’d escaped nothing. But still, he had decided to move forward.
Narazaki was already quite tan.
“What are you doing?” a girl called out to him. School had ended. Maybe she’d followed Narazaki from the office. She was a thirteen-year-old they’d taken into their care three months ago. At first she hadn’t talked at all, but then she gradually began to open up.
“I’m looking far away,” Narazaki told her in English. He had begun learning English. He was shocked at how slowly he improved, but he also got the feeling that learning another language would let him be born anew.
Language was at the root of every person, after all.
“You look sad,” the girl said.
Narazaki smiled bitterly. He couldn’t let this girl worry about him. He forced a smile. “I was thinking about things from a long time ago.”
“A long time ago?”
“Yes.” Narazaki nodded. “About a country far away.”
The girl ran down a path, stopped, and called Narazaki. He stood up. The path the girl had taken was muddy and seemed dangerous. Narazaki tried to stop her.
“It’s harder that way.”
The girl turned around. A ray of light struck her as she stood atop the vast earth.
“It’s fine.”
She seemed to be smiling slightly. If it was truly a smile, it was the first time she’d done that since Narazaki met her.
Narazaki ran after her. She’s right, he thought. Even though it’s a bit muddy, you’ll be fine.
“Wait,” Narazaki said. He chased after her. The sun had begun to sink past the horizon. “Let’s go together.”
Narazaki offered his hand to the girl. She gripped it lightly.
References
Vēda no shisō, from Nakamura Hajime senshū [ketteiban], 8, Nakamura Hajime, Shunjūsha, 1989.
Buddha no kotoba, Suttanipāta, translated into Japanese by Nakamura Hajime, Iwanami Shoten, 1984.
Hokekyō (Gendaigoyaku daijyō butten 2), Nakamura Hajime, Tokyo Shoseki, 2003.
Hanyashinkyō Ta (Gendaigoyaku daijyō butten 6), Nakamura Hajime, Tokyo Shoseki, 2004.
Shakason no shōgai, Nakamura Hajime, Heibonsha, 2003.
Zen maindo begināzu maindo, Suzuki Shinryū, Sanga, 2012.
Zōho shinban shūkyo tagen shugi (Problems of Religious Pluralism), John Hick, translated into Japanese by Mase Hiromasa, Hōzōkan, 2008.
Magudara no Maria ni yoru fukuonsho (The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle), Karen L. King, translated into Japanese by Takao Yamagata and Mitsugu Shinmen, Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2006.
Genten Yuda no fukuonsho (The Gospel of Judas), translated into English by Rodolphe Kasser and others, translated into Japanese by Fujii Rumi and others, National Geographic Japan, 2006.
Nō wa sora yori hiroi ka (Wider than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness), Gerald M. Edelman, translated into Japanese by Fuyuki Junko, Sōshisha, 2006.
Nō wa naze kokoro wo tsukutta no ka, Maeno Takashi, Chikuma Shobō, 2010.
Ishiki to wa nandarōka, Shimojō Shinsuke, Kodansha, 1999.
Noma Hiroshi no kai kaihō 15 gō, Fujiwara Shoten, 2008.
Seibutsu to museibutsu no aida, Fukuoka Shinichi, Kodansha, 2007.
Seimei to kioku no paradokusu, Fukuoka Shinichi, Bungei Shunjū, 2012.
Nemurenakunaru uchū wa nashi, Sato Katsuhiko, Takarajimasha, 2008.
Uchū wa hontō ni hitotsu na no ka, Murayama Hitoshi, Kodansha, 2011.
Uchū ga hajimaru mae ni wa nani ga atta no ka? (A Universe from Nothing), Lawrence Krauss, translated into Japanese by Aoki Kaoru, Bungei Shunjū, 2013.
Shinsōban fukakuteisei genri, Tsuzuki Takuji, Kodansha, 2002.
Ryōshiryokugaku no tetsugaku, Morita Kunihisa, Kodansha, 2011.
Higgusu (The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World), Sean Carroll, translated into Japanese by Tanimoto Masayuki, Kodansha, 2013.
Yasukuni mondai, Takahashi Tetsuya, Chikuma Shobō, 2005.
Yasukuni jinja, Ōe Shinobu, Iwanami Shoten, 1984.
Sensō wo shiranai hito no tame no Yasukuni mondai, Kamisaka Fuyuko, Bungei Shunjū, 2006.
Yasukuni sengo hishi, Mainichi Shinbun Yasukuni Reporting Group, Mainichi Shinbunsha, 2007.
Yasukuni jinja jinja honchō hen, PHP Kenkyūjo, 2012.
Kokka Shinto to nihonjin, Shimazono Susumu, Iwanami Shoten, 2010.
Tokyo saiban, Higurashi Yoshinobu, Kodansha, 2008.
Jūgun ianfu, Yoshimi Yoshiaki, Iwanami Shoten, 1995.
Nihongun “ianfu” seido to wa nanika, Yoshimi Yoshiaki, Iwanami Shoten, 2010.
[Shinjūwan] no hi, Handō Kazutoshi, Bungei Shunjū, 2003.
Furyoki, Ōoka Shōhei, Shinchōsha, 1967.
Taitero sensō kabushikigaisha (War on Terror, Inc.), Solomon Hughes, translated into Japanese by Matsumoto Tsuyoshi, Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2008.
Sensō ukeoi kaisha (Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry), P.W. Singer, translated into Japanese by Yamazaki Jun, Nippon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 2004.
Amerika no kyodai g
unju sangyō, Hirose Takashi, Shūeisha, 2001.
Saiteihen no jūokunin (The Bottom Billion), Paul Collier, translated into Japanese by Nakatani Kazuo, Nikkei BPsha, 2008.
Enjo ja Afurika wa hatten shinai (Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is Another Way for Africa), Dambisa Moyo, translated into Japanese under supervision of Kohama Hirohisa, Tōyō Keizai Shinpōsha, 2010.
Shokuryō terorizumu (Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply), Vandana Shiva, translated into Japanese under supervision of Uramoto Masanori, with Takeuchi Seiya and Kanaizuka Tsutomu, Akashi Shoten, 2006.
Sekai no hanbun ga ueru no wa naze? Jean Ziegler, translated into Japanese by Takao Mayumi, Gōdō Shuppan, 2003.
Kokusai kōken no uso, Isezaki Kenji, Chikuma Shobō, 2010.
Rupo shigen tairiku Afurika, Shirato Keiichi, Asahi Shinbun Shuppan, 2012.
VICE Japan: The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia, Prostitutes of God,
http://www.youtube.com/user/VICEjpch (URL cited 9/20/2014).
Cult X Page 38
