As Araki scrambled to pick it up, Mitsuhiro threw the amulet at him. Araki recoiled in shock, but as his hand moved away from the shovel, Mitsuhiro thrust out the sharp stone he was clutching and jumped forward with all his might. The stone flew straight into Araki’s face. Mitsuhiro could feel it piercing flesh in his hands before hitting something hard. Using the momentum, he threw himself at Araki and pushed him to the ground.
The impact made Mitsuhiro’s vision blur. He felt nauseous, as if he had suffered a concussion, and his right shoulder felt as if it had been torn from his body. He screamed.
Araki, on the ground, shoved him back with both hands. Mitsuhiro was lifted back up and then fell on his rear, but he planted his left hand on the ground to keep himself from falling backward. Araki kept a hand to his face as he struggled, raising his upper body and kicking his legs to get away from Mitsuhiro. He got to his feet, back scraping against the wall opposite the stepladder.
Mitsuhiro glared back at Araki with desperation. He could barely take any more pain, but he forced himself to get up on one knee. Then he reached behind his back and fumbled for the thing tucked into his belt.
Araki’s shoulders shook, then his whole body. He took his hands away from his face. The handkerchief fell, and Mitsuhiro could see the stone sticking out from the left side of his face. Mitsuhiro realized that he had stabbed through the cheek, but the stone must’ve been caught by his teeth. It was by no means a minor injury, but it was still insufficient. Instead of being fatal or discouraging him at all, it only enraged him further.
Araki unfastened his helmet’s strap, grabbed the stone, and slowly pulled it out before tossing it aside. Blood flowed from his mouth and the wound on his cheek, dark and ink-like.
“That hurt! That really hurt! You make me so mad!”
Araki screamed as he rushed away from the wall to pick up the shovel he had dropped. Mitsuhiro had no strength to stop him. He could only wait with one knee on the ground as Araki grabbed the shovel and stomped across the bottom of the hole.
“I’ve decided to hit you a hundred times! You won’t listen to me! I’m gonna hit you over and over, even if it hurts a lot and you pass out!”
Mitsuhiro stared intently at Araki, who was screaming in a voice that sounded more like a vengeful spirit than a child. He paid no attention to the shovel in his hand. Instead, his eyes were on his opponent’s right leg. His right thigh. For some reason, his attention was drawn to that spot. He didn’t even look at the other leg.
Now that leg was approaching. It was within reach.
“Okay, number one!” Araki yelled, blood spewing from his mouth and cheek as he raised the shovel.
Mitsuhiro put all the strength he had left in his body into the object in his left hand and stabbed it into Araki’s right thigh. The sharp stone easily pierced Araki’s work clothes and sank into flesh—and Araki’s weight was added to Mitsuhiro’s momentum halfway through. The pain caused his right leg to suddenly give way, making his weight shift to that side. The stone blade pierced deeper than Mitsuhiro had expected, running straight through his thigh to the other side.
With a terrible scream, Araki hopped around on his left foot. He used the shovel as a cane to stay upright, but his weight shifted unexpectedly to his left, and he could only manage a few steps toward the concrete block before collapsing with a thud.
Mitsuhiro suddenly realized that he had seen something like this before. It was when that gravestone piece hit Araki’s thigh, on the way to the purification ritual. Strangely, the stone had struck him in the exact same place.
But as Mitsuhiro saw Araki still trying to stand up, leaning as best he could on that shovel, he searched for the thing he had thrown away earlier—Tamai’s amulet. From where he was standing, it was the only thing within reach. He was afraid it’d be half-buried in that white powdery ash by now, but he found it right away. He crawled forward with his knees and left hand, trying desperately to reach it just a few steps away.
But Araki’s helmet hit him in the face, and then the shovel head came down in front of his eyes. Mitsuhiro recoiled and fell backward, shuddering from the pain in his shoulder.
Araki crawled toward him with both hands and his one good knee, raising the handle of the shovel in his right hand.
“Come on, one!”
Mitsuhiro desperately backed away. The shovel head came down, vertically embedding itself into the ground.
“I said one!”
Araki pulled the shovel out, repositioned his grip, and swung it as if it were a spear. The tip of the shovel came down again.
Mitsuhiro tried to dodge it, but this time, it tore through the fabric of his pants and ripped into his right shin.
“One!”
Gritting his teeth against the new wave of pain, Mitsuhiro waited for Araki to get closer, then tried to kick him in the face with all his might. But he couldn’t reach him, and the tip of the shovel cut his right ankle.
“Two!”
Araki shouted angrily, got down on his knees, and grabbed the base of the shovel handle with both hands.
“And three!”
At that moment, there was a rattling sound.
Both men froze, thinking the other one and made the noise.
But Mitsuhiro realized first that it wasn’t either of them. Yoshikazu Hara had climbed down into the hole and was standing behind Araki, holding up the chain that had once bound him. Araki noticed Mitsuhiro’s gaze, sneered, and turned around.
“Why are you butting in? I gotta put my wife in a nursing home!” Yoshikazu Hara shouted loudly as he swung the chain at Araki.
Araki tried to defend himself with the shovel, but he was on his knees with his opponent behind him. There was just no way.
The lock at the end of the chain struck the side of Araki’s head.
The shovel fell from his hands. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His eyes stared at Mitsuhiro, seeing nothing, and then he fell forward and collapsed. He didn’t get up.