Mitsuhiro dug his left elbow into the soft ground and endured the agony of raising his upper body. Left hand trembling, he held the amulet above his head and shouted, “This is an amulet from your predecessor, Araki! It belongs to your father!”
As expected, Araki immediately returned and looked down at him. His eyes were wide with surprise and anger.
“What is that? Why do you have it?”
“Chief Sugawara gave it to me! You don’t want this lying around here, do you? Because every time you come here, you’ll be reminded that the ‘previous president’ is dead!”
Araki opened his mouth wide and let out a terrifyingly shrill scream.
“You can’t have that here!”
He sounded like a child speaking through the mouth of his adult self.
“Throw it out of the hole! Now! Before I get angry!”
“If you want it, come on down! I’ll give it to you then! Otherwise, I’m gonna bury it in here! I’ll use one of your father’s belongings to ‘compensate’ the hole!”
Araki glared even more fiercely and clenched his fists, his body violently shaking. He turned on his heels and disappeared for a moment. Then Mitsuhiro could hear the clattering of the ladder being lifted.
Mitsuhiro hooked the charm around his index finger and clenched the sharp stone in his hand, wrapped in the handkerchief. He pressed the blade against his wrist so that it couldn’t be seen from the back of his hand. Then, with all his strength, he pushed himself up with his knees. Swaying, he managed to get to his feet and lean against the concrete block behind him.
Something clinked under his feet: a chain. The restraint that Yoshikazu Hara had requested for himself.
The chain lock around the ankle shackle was still there, just as Mitsuhiro had left it, with the key still in the keyhole. A chill ran through him at the idea of being restrained with this for all time. But he could also use this to bind Araki, so he bent down unsteadily and cautiously removed the key, taking care not to drop what he was holding.
He put it in his pants pocket, took a deep breath, and leaned back against the concrete block again. Every little move he made caused his battered head to throb, and his right shoulder ached enough to make him feel dizzy. But at least now, even if Araki got him with the chain, there’d still be a chance to escape.
He’d expected Araki to come down immediately, but instead, he kept on clattering around with the ladder, mumbling, “Don’t touch it, you must never touch it under any circumstances.” Araki must have been thinking about how he’d safely retrieve the amulet once he was down there.
Mitsuhiro also thought furiously during this brief respite. If he tried to resist in these circumstances, Araki would easily subdue him. His only option was to reason with Araki, offering to destroy the amulet in exchange for bringing Sae back to the surface—not that Araki was open to negotiation at the moment.
Just then, he felt something strange on the concrete behind him. The part of his back leaning against it seemed to slip on him. He moved away from the block, unsure what was going on, and something thudded to the ground.
It was a piece of concrete. Mitsuhiro stared at it intently. Even in the dimly lit hole, he could clearly see its shape.
He could only assume that it had broken off from the impact of his body, and he was shocked to see that it was exactly the same.
The same as the piece of gravestone that Araki had thrown into the pond.
Hang in there.
Mitsuhiro felt his father’s voice more strongly than ever. Maybe it was coming from the stone in front of him…but at the same time, it somehow seemed to be coming from far above his head. Perhaps through the water tank, which was probably filled with rainwater by now.
Suddenly, a stepladder appeared from the edge of the hole, lowering itself down. It wasn’t on the wall where the shrine was, across from Mitsuhiro, but on the corner of the wall to his right. Perhaps Araki didn’t want to climb down with his back to his enemy.
Mitsuhiro quickly knelt down on one knee, put the amulet, handkerchief, and stone back into his breast pocket, and grabbed the handle of the large knife-shaped stone that had cracked off the concrete block. He grabbed the part where his father’s name would have been if this were the gravestone, lifted the back of his jacket with the tip of the blade, and forcefully shoved it into his belt.
He then took out the charm, handkerchief, and stone again and watched Araki descend, holding his breath.
Araki held a shovel in one hand, facing this way. He descended slowly, step by step, ever vigilant. Given the bestial rage on his face, any thought of negotiating vanished. He was so possessed with anger that reasoning with him seemed impossible.
Once both of his feet were on solid ground, Araki held the shovel straight out in front of him and approached Mitsuhiro.
“Put the amulet on the head of this shovel. Be quiiiet about it. If you don’t do as I say, I’ll hit your daughter with it. I’ll hit her as hard as I can.”
His voice was even shriller and more childlike than before.
Mitsuhiro, still on one knee, lifted the amulet but then placed a hand on the ground, as if the pain prevented him from raising his arms.
Araki scowled and turned his face away from the amulet, but he still kept on edging closer to it. The head of the shovel was now on the ground in front of Mitsuhiro. As soon as the amulet was placed on it, he’d swing the shovel and send it flying out of the hole. Maybe he’d give Mitsuhiro a few blows while he was at it. The state he was in, that wouldn’t be surprising, either.
Mitsuhiro focused all his strength into his knees, stood up in a flash, then stamped down hard with his right foot on the joint between the shovel head and the handle. The handle slammed out of Araki’s hands and hit the soft, foul-smelling ground.