When he finally managed to get to her side, Mitsuhiro bent his knees, reached out with his right hand, and grabbed her left arm to pull her away from the hole.
“You don’t have to hold me anymore,” Yoshikazu Hara said. “I’m back at the worksite now, thanks to you.”
Mitsuhiro looked at him, astonished. His usual semi-dazed expression had disappeared, and he was now staring at the hole with determination in his eyes.
He let go.
“Is the girl sick? Poor thing.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine once she gets out of here.”
“Well, hurry up and do that, eh? I got work to do down here, sadly.”
With that, Yoshikazu Hara walked over to the wall where the shrine was located. Mitsuhiro watched him, wondering what he was going do next. Then he saw him reach for the stepladder lying in front of the shrine. Apparently, he intended to climb down into the hole himself.
If he had it handled, Mitsuhiro could focus on getting Sae back up top. If necessary, he could change the passcode on the lock and close the door so Yoshikazu Hara wouldn’t disappear again.
Mitsuhiro picked up his trembling daughter with both arms. He wanted to give her something to put in her mouth so she wouldn’t bite her tongue during the convulsions. But as he reached into his breast pocket for the handkerchief, he heard footsteps behind him.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Araki appear, as if he had slipped right through the wall. He was wearing a helmet and carrying a shovel on his shoulder.
Mitsuhiro was stunned. Was he hiding behind the pile driver, crouching in the driver’s seat, or maybe hiding among the piles of stakes? Whatever the case, Araki quickly approached the helpless Mitsuhiro and swung what he was holding. All Mitsuhiro could do was brace himself as much as possible and hold Sae to his chest to shield her.
A sound like a metal plate being struck echoed through the basement. The flat back of the shovel had struck Mitsuhiro diagonally behind his head. The impact made sparks fly in his vision. He couldn’t stand back up, so he dropped down on one knee to at least avoid falling into the hole.
“Hyaaaah!”
Yoshikazu Hara let out a high-pitched scream. Mitsuhiro’s blurry vision caught sight of Araki rushing toward him, but he couldn’t do anything.
Yoshikazu Hara had been using the stepladder as a shield, but Araki knocked it out of his hands with the shovel. He pushed the old man away with one hand, and as Yoshikazu Hara staggered, Araki swung his shovel down without hesitation.
There was a dull thud, and then Yoshikazu Hara was motionless on the ground. It sounded like the joint of the shovel had connected with his head.
Mitsuhiro hugged Sae even tighter. He made several attempts to run toward the door, but each time, his head started pounding, his legs tangled up on him, and he fell to his knees again. He had to get Sae back to the surface somehow. He couldn’t break his promise to Miyoko. He gritted his teeth and tried to run, but he couldn’t.
He slapped his daughter’s small cheek, hoping she would regain consciousness and run by herself, but it was no use.
“I’m sorry to be so rough,” said Araki’s voice from nearby. “I consulted with the last president, and he said this is the only way.”
Terrified, Mitsuhiro turned toward the voice, trying to shield Sae, and he felt another heavy impact on his back. The moment he realized he had been kicked, the ground disappeared. He knew that he, and Sae in his arms, had been kicked over the edge and into the hole.
In the short time it took to fall, Mitsuhiro could only think of shielding Sae with his body, trying to wrap himself around her as much as possible. Then something hit his right shoulder with tremendous force, and he was once again struck by a blow so powerful that it temporarily blinded him.
He had hit his shoulder on the concrete block, then rolled onto the far softer ground.
Mitsuhiro’s consciousness drifted away as he desperately prayed for Sae’s safety.
Hang in there.
But the pungent smell wafting up from the strangely soft ground made his eyes tear up. It irritated his throat enough and made him cough, pulling his fading consciousness from the brink.
“Are you all right, Mr. Matsunaga?” Araki flatly asked from the edge of the hole.
Mitsuhiro lacked the energy to respond. Araki didn’t seem to be expecting an answer anyway.
“I see you found Yoshikazu Hara for me. But we can’t put him back in the hole yet. I went through all the trouble of digging it the way the old president told me to. If we don’t provide compensation for the hole, whatever went in will just come right back out. If the water god comes now, it’ll just become a normal hole again. It won’t become a seat for the aragami, the guardian spirit. Of course, you did a lot to fill it in for us, so the old president told me it’s okay if you two are the last. I’ll bring your wife in soon, so don’t worry.”
Mitsuhiro said nothing in response to Araki’s bizarre one-sided argument. He pressed his cheek against the strangely soft ground, all covered with white powder, and panted. His body was numb from the painful blows, but he ordered it to take action; he managed to move Sae’s convulsing body to the ground and pull out his left arm.
Hang in there.
He felt a voice encouraging him. His right arm hung limply behind his body, not moving at all. In fact, other than the pain in his shoulder, he couldn’t even feel his fingertips.
In place of his useless right arm, he searched his breast pocket with his left hand. The first thing he touched was the handkerchief, and then the stone. He clenched them in his fist, then picked up another item with his index finger and thumb.
“Now, wait there with your daughter, please.”
Araki withdrew from the edge of the hole and disappeared from view. Don’t let him go. Make him come down here. I have to get Sae out of here.