by Kei Urahama
Chapter 22
Mazaki called Onuki back into the room, pondering how to convey to his followers the ‘good news’ of the revelation bestowed upon him. Another knock sounded at his door. Must be believers from the floors below come to ask the meaning of the miracles they’ve just witnessed, Mazaki thought. He ordered Onuki to deal with them and get them to leave. The believers had to be patient for a while. In order to give the gospel to them, he needed to set an appropriate time and place. This room was good for a sacred congregation but it was too confined a space to deliver a Gospel. He needed a larger forum for that. For example, the Amusement Park Building in the Orion Gardens. Yes, there must be a cinema or stage there somewhere. That would make a good church. Mazaki was thinking about this when Onuki returned, his face pale.
“Eh… Mr. Mazaki…” From the room’s entrance Onuki spoke so softly it was nearly inaudible, his voice wavering.
“What now? Tell them they’ll have to wait a while.” Mazaki looked up and noticed for the first time that Onuki wasn’t alone. There was another figure beside the old man.
“Well… this man would like to see you.” A man pushed past Onuki and entered the room. It was Nagaoka, the cop. Mazaki cut short his protest and saw the gun in Nagaoka’s hands. Nagaoka shook the gun casually in Onuki’s direction, warning him off.
“You’re out of here. I want to talk to the guru in private.”
As he spoke he strode into Mazaki’s drawing room and examined the space. Mazaki remained calm and nodded for Onuki to leave. The pale, old man backed out.
Nagaoka didn’t look so good. Sweat dripped from every contour of his damp face. His eyes were deeply sunken, bloodshot with dark rings of fatigue encircling them. His jaw was covered in stubble. The shabby, dirty uniform draped from his skinny frame. He looks like a corrupt cop addicted to drugs or something, Mazaki pondered.
“Well let’s sit over here, shall we? You must be exhausted after climbing all those stairs.”
Mazaki indicated the sofa next to a formica table but Nagaoka ignored him, instead pacing back and forth around the room like a caged bear. Somehow Mazaki felt no fear watching even this.
There is no doubt the Lord is watching over me. I have no fear, for how can anyone harm me? Mazaki observed the state of the man only from a perspective of faith.
The group of American evangelicals with which Mazaki had been involved stubbornly believed that all humans were actors replaying the dramas of the Bible just as the original scenarios and characters had played out. If their claim was correct then who was this man in biblical terms? What role would this man play in his new plan for the Gospel? As he thought this the man suddenly halted, looking down at Mazaki’s feet, muttering something unclear.
“What did you say? I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you.”
The man looked up and glared at Mazaki’s face.
“You really trust in God?”
As he spoke the word ‘you’ he aimed the muzzle of the gun squarely at Mazaki’s face.
“Yes, of course.”
As he answered, Mazaki wondered how many bullets were left in that gun. Since the Rapture, how many times have I heard gunshots in the Dome? This poor, former policeman, immediately after the Rapture, sacrilegiously shot two bullets at the holy wall, then one more shot to give the accursed suicide a second death. And then, today, he fired three or four shots in the square. Unfortunately Mazaki had no idea how many bullets you could put in that weapon. But either way, there must be a few left… But it was as if the policeman had read his thoughts.
“You want an honest answer, guru? It still has some bullets left. At least enough for you and I.”
He moved the muzzle closer to Mazaki’s face.
Surprising even himself, Mazaki remained quite calm. Poor fellow. He has the power appliance called a gun and he believes it bestows authority on him to force others to conform. I often saw this type of person in America while I was there. Never disagree with the guy with the gun. Practically just off the plane, Mazaki’s American Midwest friend liked to say this. But here in this holy place it is not the same. Here there is no authority other than that given by the Lord.
“I already answered the question. I believe in God. One hundred percent. Honestly, your question amazes me. While surrounded by miracles you still don’t believe in God yourself?”
Mazaki spoke as he gazed squarely past the muzzle at those bloodshot eyes. As he’d expected, Nagaoka quickly looked away and lowered the gun. Yes, he is just a coward. It is disgusting that such a man would be a ‘guardian’ of the apartment building where the chosen reside.
“I… I want proof.” His spoke out as he started to pace back and forth in front of Mazaki again. “Clear proof that God exists.”
“The Bible says faith is…”
“Shut up!” Nagaoka screamed and shoved the muzzle at Mazaki again. He immediately lowered it, “For God’s sake, be quiet… I know your version of what’s happening here. You call this Armageddon. But I need definitive evidence. More than just empty words. Otherwise I going to… going to…”
You’ll shoot me with that gun? Mazaki thought. Nagaoka burst into tears. He’s utterly pathetic. But the gun might prove useful. For starters, there is only one gun in this entire place. Perhaps it has some meaning.
Mazaki decided to save the poor soul.
“I understand,” Mazaki said as he stood from the sofa, “the Lord is his Word as well, however, you ask to know the Lord by a more direct experience. Good. Come along then.”
Let us bestow the holy sacraments upon this man.
Chapter 23
Helipolis 2000. Aside from the restaurant located on the opposite side of the square, this was the only large building intact and unmarred by the wall of the Dome. Unmarred, that is to say, if you don’t consider the disagreeable black marks spattering the double ovoid, glass facade, scored by the passage of the spheres on that first day’s raid. Maybe if one chose to see those marks as a kind of distasteful design choice, they could be overlooked.
On that first day, for Yuji who had been in his room and didn’t witness the spectacle (something he would never regret), it wasn’t hard to imagine this building as the last bastion of human society that had escaped bizarre transformations brought on by the Dome’s appearance.
There was no barricade composed of unsightly junk in front of the building. However, the wide entrance that was decorated in futuristic themes was blocked by game machines lined up closely without gaps just inside the glass doors.
Thanks to Chikama and Mikami, four people had entered through the employee door on the side of the building. Yuji, Maki, Yang and John.
An odd-looking portly man, wearing an American football helmet, welcomed them. He moved with a jingling noise as countless pocket toys and accessories dangled and swayed from his Nike sports jacket. Like a basket worm. As he reached them, his eyes shot to John’s injuries and he muttered sullenly, “That was a disaster.” He guided them forward to his friends.
The first and second floor of the building was an indoor amusement park, its open atrium lined with various attractions and game machines. The third and fourth floors were a cinema complex consisting of five regular theaters and four virtual ones. Yuji was led by the basket worm man past the staff facility into the amusement park.
Koichi Todo, the leader of the survivors there, greeted the group in front of the Ancient Egypt attraction lined with robotic looking gods gifted with human bodies but animal heads. This man was of an indefinite age and looked like an upbeat punk from the previous century. He was now dressed in black with white make-up and a crimson-lined black cape as if playing at being a vampire. The young woman clinging to his side was also decked out in similar black Goth attire. Because she was holding a pet-robot rabbit, Yuji finally recognized her as Ryoko Kaneko, a woman who had worked as the front desk receptionist of Sirius Palace.
She’d left the apartment about half a month before and moved here. Rumor had it that she’d left
over becoming the third wheel in a love triangle with Chikama and Eriko Endo. Now she was Todo’s woman. They say women can change, but she’d completely transformed to adapt to her new environment to a degree that left Yuji staring at her from top to bottom with his mouth agape. Then again, Yuji had only barely known her based on her work persona, so knew how much she’d actually changed. When she hadn’t been at the front desk, who knew how she might have looked or what her tastes were.
“I was preparing a little welcome party, but maybe it’s not really appropriate now, right?”
The man dressed in the punk vampire costume gazed at John’s gored arm as he spoke. John laughed in that extreme American way and shot back in English. “You guys the Addams Family or what?” A majority of the Parkville survivors were gathered there and dressed in various bizarre fashions, sporting Goth-style make-up regardless of gender.
Even after the advent of the Dome, Yuji had visited here many times. Is it my imagination or every time I come here are they dressed more and more like vampires in a horror movie? It was as if they really needed to compete with the real zombies outside their doors. In the dim light filtering in from outside through the glass wall facing the square, they looked like ghosts from American comics. Yuji was momentarily startled as his eyes crossed a woman who looked almost exactly like one of the zombies from outside. Who could tell by looking at her?
“The First Aid kit is ready. If you need alcohol, there aren’t many drinkers here so there’s a lot left. I have water and aloe to give.” He looked more closely at John’s arm. “It doesn’t look like a burn wound. Were you bitten by one of them?” His eyes were directed at Yuji instead of John, expecting him to answer for the American. Yuji was unable to form an answer. The words, ‘one who is bitten by a zombie becomes a zombie’, kept running through his mind preventing him from thinking about anything else.
“Should we break out the axes?” Yuji’s eyes grew large upon hearing Todo’s question, but a smile grew on his painted face. “Don’t worry, it’s a joke. We had some guys get bitten by zombies here too but no one transformed Romero movie-style. People heal faster here than normal since meat doesn’t rot. He’ll recover soon enough.” He kept nodding reassuringly as he spoke.
His joke was in as poor taste as his fashion. This man has also changed, Yuji thought.
When Yuji had first met him he was sober and quiet, kind of a geeky young guy. In one short month he’d become quite the eccentric. Koichi Todo was a self-proclaimed legendary gamer. Since he was young, other than writing the occasional article on games, he’d never had a decent job but lived playing games exclusively. Even when the Dome had appeared he’d been immersed in the newest virtual game featured in the arcade. He had not left the building since then. For a maniac gamer such as Todo, this world was a veritable heaven.
“The fuck you staring at, Vampirella? My blood look tasty to you?” John spit out in English as he glared at Todo.
Todo quickly averted his eyes. “It’s a bit too dark to treat injuries here,” he murmured then shouted out, “Light!”
A boy behind Todo whispered something into his headset microphone. A low vibrating hum spread throughout the quiet park and suddenly lights flared up. The entire area of the Amusement Park emerged into an odd light, which only served to emphasize how empty the space was, more like a graveyard than a gaming arcade.
Yuji remembered how active the place had once been. The electronic clamor of the attractions and game machines mixed with the bustling uproar of the crowds had almost been too powerful for him to bear, like the pandemonium of a major earthquake.
Just this revived memory was enough to pain Yuji’s ears, so accustomed to silence. This place is dead, Yuji thought. No wonder everyone here looks like ghosts. The place had transformed to a zombie park one step ahead of everywhere else, and no doubt it was endangering their survival.
No way could this be the last bastion of humanity. Yuji was already beginning to regret the decision to make this his new home.
Scattered about in the deserted playground just off to the edges of the central passageway were expensive sofas and French beds looking out of place. Some of the beds didn’t have proper mattresses, but regardless there were people sleeping on them here and there. An odd thing still to see, in a world without night and day people just slept when the urge overcame them. Yuji glanced at the clock above the arcade but it was still before 9:30 pm. How strange that only twenty minutes had passed since he’d checked the time in the car.
The concept of time in this new world has always been wonky, Yuji thought.
“Wow! What a luxury! Did they turn on the lights for me?” Yuji turned to find the source of the familiar high-pitched voice. It was Yoshida, who’d abandoned Yuji in the square. Yoshida then saw Todo. “What? You didn’t have to wear costumes to welcome us.” He took out a cigarette from his chest pocket and lit it up. Todo looked at it and blatantly frowned. On the first day, both Todo and Yoshida had come to play in this place and, surviving the angel attack, found themselves here again. They had this in common but not much else. Even though everyone in this place with Todo wore punk guise, none gave off the same aggressive aura as Yoshida.
“So that’s all of you? You must be tired, so I’ll just explain the basic rules. Although I say ‘rules’, it’s nothing serious. Just some simple things to follow here.
First, try not to use the toilets inside the building as much as possible. We made temporary toilets out back, just holes we dig then cover over, so please use those. Probably not so great for the women but the toilet drainage pipe backed up a long time ago.
I think I mentioned before that we decide duties for food foraging, doorway look-out and so on by a kind of lottery system using the games. People who win the lottery get to decide the game of choice. Anything like cards, billiards or some pocket-games, whatever, as long as we can play it in here. The loser serves the duty. Of course no one has to do duties two consecutive times. Tournaments are held on Sundays mostly. I’ll let you know then, so be sure to join in. This is the only hard and fast rule I want you to follow. Other than that, where or with whom you sleep, you get to decide freely. But…”
Todo directed his gaze at Yoshida who was giving a bored look. “Don’t start fights with anybody. You might have some issues about where to sleep or getting food, but playing a game decides the winners. Do you understand?”
Yoshida snorted a laugh through his nose and vaguely nodded but Todo wouldn’t have it. “You understand or not?” he prompted.
“Okay, you’re the boss.” Yoshida made a show of bowing his head.
Todo gave an exasperated sigh. “Well that’s about it then.” Shifting his eyes to John he said, “How is your arm? Isn’t there a nurse and an intern doctor in the apartment building? Should I get someone to call them?”
Yang translated but John shook his head, “No need.”
“Then that’s it for today. Please work out your own sleeping arrangements amongst yourselves. So, for all the new residents… Welcome to Neverland!” After saying this hokey farewell, Todo moved away with Ryoko in tow but suddenly halted and turned back. “Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Be careful with fire here. You must understand how dangerous fire is now that you saw that accident outside. If you want to get tossed out by an angel, I won’t stand in your way.” With these last words he departed.
“Did you hear that? Everything is decided by games. Does that mean I get my pick of the women that way too?” Yoshida whispered to Yuji with a leer on his face. Yuji ignored him preoccupied with concerns over his own future.
Had it been a mistake moving here? It was supposed to be so simple – only a hundred meters away – but four people had been lost.
Suddenly the carefree smile of Yuki Saeki, a girl about his own age, haunted his thoughts. Because she always slept in the foreigner’s rooms, her reputation among the apartment residents was poor. But she’d always been a bright and cheerful girl. She was like a selfish child who couldn’t
control her impulses. From the beginning Yuji had been perplexed as to how to get along with her, but only recently he’d come to understand her innocent charm.
Of the survivors from the same generation as Yuji, there were several girls whose spirits had broken or who had lost their minds. Aside from murmuring into their non-functional cell phones, they did little else. Yuki had been different. Always energetic, never losing her innate optimism… Yet she would be a zombie by now and would be wandering, dragging her feet in the square in search of food. No one would ever hear her explosive outburst of laughter again. Yuji had barely exchanged words with her and felt now that he should have made an effort to be closer to her. He should have kept in touch with her and her characteristic brightness. For the first time he realized how valuable her light was in this dark world. Such a loss… but I can’t dwell on it. It’s too late. I can’t change what’s happened.
Yuji looked at Maki Kato who stood with her back to him a short distance away. She’d always had an other-worldly aura to her, so withdrawn into her own little shell.
Maybe because of this aloof, inhospitable attitude, Yoshida had recently come to ignore her. Only to the younger Yuji had she shown a gentle thoughtfulness like a sister. She also only confided in Yuji that, like him, she had stopped attending school and become a shut-in, never straying outside her home. He watched her from behind, remembering how her hand had firmly grasped his right arm in the car. Perhaps sensing him watching, she turned slightly and Yuji quickly looked away. To avoid blushing he tried to think of something else.
Well, for better or worse, a new page is turning for me today. I’m a Neverlander from now on.
Thus, once again Yuji Ohizumi started a new life.
But it didn’t last long.
Chapter 24
“Have you read the Bible?” Mazaki asked the policeman in the candle-lit gloom. After a moment of silence, his surprising replied was “Yes.”
“Have you received the Communion?”
