Earthlings, page 11
When I asked Piyyut if my magical powers were growing stronger, his answer came back crystal clear, “Yes, that’s right!”
All the same, my mouth was still broken. I couldn’t taste food, and eating wasn’t at all enjoyable. When I was called downstairs for meals, I would hardly eat a thing before going back to my room. Mom would say with a sigh that I was being “rebellious.”
One day I had just taken a single bite of a tasteless hamburger and was about to go back to my room when Mom told me, “You’ll be doing the intensive course at cram school again this year, you know.” It was just over a month since Grandpa had died.
“Why? I thought I wasn’t supposed to leave my room.”
“For heaven’s sake, stop quibbling! You’re going, and that’s that. And if you’re even slightly late home, I’ll inform the police. You got that?”
I’d lost all sense of the passing of days, and when I went back to my room I looked at the calendar. My countdown to Obon was still recorded there: Three days to go . . . Two days to go . . . The day we’d gone to Akishina was marked the end in small letters. After that I hadn’t made any entries. The calendar was completely blank. I recalled how I really had intended to end it all that day.
I searched in my bag and found the printout from cram school. The intensive course was due to start in three days’ time. The night before, Mr. Igasaki phoned and Mom answered so loudly that I could hear her from my room upstairs.
“Oh, Mr. Igasaki! Thank you so much for taking the trouble to call! You tried calling before? Well, you see, we had some unfortunate news and had to return to my husband’s family home. Yes, of course. After all, she was lucky enough to participate in your intensive course last year too. She absolutely loves your classes, Mr. Igasaki. Yes, yes of course, I’ll tell her.”
Mom practically forced me to take the receiver. I held it to my right ear. “I’m here waiting for you,” Mr. Igasaki said cheerfully. His breath passed through the receiver and stuck fast to my ear. I couldn’t move.
From that day, it wasn’t just my mouth that was broken but my right ear too. It wasn’t completely broken like my mouth was, but sometimes I couldn’t hear what was happening right in front of me and instead heard a sound like waves or a continuous buzzing. Meanwhile Piyyut’s voice grew steadily clearer.
I devoted myself to practicing my magic. I was particularly assiduous about practicing the out-of-body experience. If I could just perfect this, maybe I could go somewhere far away. Yet I never could really manage it.
Survive, whatever it takes.
These words were all I was left with. The only way I could survive was through my magical powers.
The first day of the intensive course, my sister came along to keep watch, following me on her bicycle as I made my way to the cram school.
“If you try to run away, I’ll beat you with this,” she told me, showing me a short bamboo sword she kept in her tote bag, the sort of thing sold in souvenir shops.
Soon, though, she relaxed her vigilance since her own summer course was starting. Mr. Igasaki wasted no time in taking advantage of this and asked me, “Natsuki, do you have some free time tomorrow?”
“Yes.” My right ear filled with the sound of waves and Piyyut’s voice.
“Tomorrow there isn’t any cram school, so I’ll give you a special lesson. I showed you where the key to my house is kept, didn’t I? How about midday? Come to my house again at that time. You understand, don’t you? This is a special lesson, so you mustn’t tell anyone else. And tell your mother that you are coming to the usual intensive course, all right?”
“Yes.”
That night I consulted with Piyyut.
“Your teacher is a pawn for the evil forces,” he told me. “He’s operated by the Wicked Witch, so you have to save him.”
The Wicked Witch had already broken my mouth and my right ear. If I didn’t quickly use my magical powers to transform and defeat her, next time she would probably kill me.
Survive, whatever it takes.
Piyyut whispered this to me over and over, as if he was channeling Yuu.
Tomorrow the Wicked Witch possessing Mr. Igasaki might completely destroy my body. I only had tonight to act if I was going to defeat her and survive. I put Piyyut and my transformation mirror into my backpack, along with my magic wand, and slipped out of the house.
It seemed my parents and sister had let their guard down, perhaps because I’d been completely docile ever since they’d started keeping watch over me. It was surprisingly easy to escape.
I silently opened the door and went outside. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Taking care not to make any sound, I opened the garden shed to look for something that might aid me in the fight against the Witch. “Ouch!” Something sharp pricked my finger as I fumbled in the dark. I put on some gloves that were lying on the floor and rummaged around on the shelves.
I armed myself with several items, and just as I was closing up the shed I came across a flashlight, so I put that in my backpack too.
I headed for the house that Mr. Igasaki had taken me to after the summer festival.
Piyyut was especially talkative, chattering away in my right ear.
Hurry. Hurry! If the Wicked Witch kills you, it’ll bring about the end of the world. Only your magical powers can prevent that. You’ve got to give it your best! You’ve got to do what it takes to survive.
As I ran to Mr. Igasaki’s house I looked at my Snoopy watch: three o’clock. I was used to three o’clock being the time for my afternoon snack, and it was weird to think there was another three o’clock in the middle of the night.
Unlike in Akishina, night in the Factory was ablaze with a multitude of street lamps, and few stars were visible in the sky. Lights were on in some houses despite the late hour. This was the Baby Factory, after all, so new babies were probably being manufactured throughout the night. I suddenly felt sick as I ran, and I vomited the gastric juice that welled up into my mouth into a flowerbed.
When I arrived at Mr. Igasaki’s house, I took the front-door key from under the third plant pot from the right, just as he’d shown me. He had told me that whenever he phoned, I should take that key and let myself into the house. I wondered whether the Wicked Witch knew that Mr. Igasaki had shown me where the key was.
Even though I had the key, I was scared of going inside, and for a while I tried to use my out-of-body spell. I couldn’t get it to work, though, and instead Piyyut’s voice in my right ear grew steadily louder.
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! If you dawdle like this, the Wicked Witch will be able to prepare some frightening magic. You have to destroy her before she kills you. You’re a warrior for justice, you know. If you die, it’ll mean the end of the world. Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!
I had to save the world. I obeyed Piyyut and crept into Mr. Igasaki’s house.
Inside everything was in silence, and the air was absolutely still. Maybe Mr. Igasaki wasn’t at home tonight. I would peek into his room, and if neither he nor the Wicked Witch were there, then I would go home for the night.
I kept telling myself that they definitely weren’t here so it was okay, and suddenly I felt strangely brave. Just in case, I took out a weapon from my backpack and headed for the stairs.
I felt weak, like I had that day. Just as I thought I wouldn’t be able to take a single step farther, the electronic buzzing inside my right ear grew louder, and I crouched down.
. . . ki, Natsuki, Natsuki!
Hearing Piyyut’s voice, I looked up and saw that the interior of Mr. Igasaki’s house, the walls, the ceilings, had all turned pink. Surprised, I looked at my hands and saw they were pink too. It was as though I’d walked into a single-color photo printed in pink.
Natsuki, the world has turned pink due to the strength of your magical powers! Now you’ll definitely be able to beat the Wicked Witch. Hurry hurry hurry!
Piyyut’s voice was so loud I thought it must be ringing out throughout the house. It was so loud it was splitting my skull. Clutching my head, I started to climb the pink staircase.
Maybe the Witch had broken my eyes too. The thought scared me. My mouth, my right ear, my eyes . . . what would she break next?
I stood before the door to Mr. Igasaki’s room.
The thought briefly crossed my mind that I should run away. What on earth had possessed me to come here? A little girl with half-baked magical powers unable even to use her out-of-body spell was hardly likely to defeat the Wicked Witch.
No sound came from the room.
Just then, I felt as though something big was approaching.
It was the out-of-body power. Before I knew what was happening, I had left my body the way I had the day of the summer festival and was watching myself.
You did it! You summoned the power!
I’d succeeded at last, but I only felt numb. My body opened the door and silently went inside. The out-of-body me watched intently as it did so.
Mr. Igasaki was asleep on the bed. For some reason, I no longer felt any fear. My body slowly approached his sleeping form.
The next moment, my vision crumpled, and the sensation of smashing something soft came through my palms.
Before me was a blue lump, and I was raining down blows on that lump with the small grass-cutting scythe Dad had brought from Akishina, the one I had taken from the shed.
The out-of-body power ended all of a sudden. A golden liquid was spurting from the blue lump. What was this? It must be the pupa of the Wicked Witch, my intuition told me. I had to kill her before she hatched. I knew that if I didn’t, something terrible would happen.
Mr. Igasaki was nowhere in the room, so he must have already been eaten by the Witch. The golden liquid was spraying all over the room.
Now’s your chance! Say the magic word! Cast the spell!
I had never practiced magic words with Piyyut. I said the first word that came in to my head, over and over again.
“Popinpobopia, Popinpobopia, Popinpobopia, Popinpobopia, Popinpobopia.”
I had no idea whether this counted as a spell. Golden liquid was steadily spurting from the blue lump.
Hurryhurryhurry! Killkillkill! WitchWitchWitchWitch! Killkillkillkill!
“PopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopia.”
I desperately kept repeating the magic word as Piyyut told me to, while sticking the scythe into the bright blue lump over and over again.
I don’t know how long I carried on doing this. I have the feeling it was just one minute, but it could have been several hours.
That’s enough! That’s not enough! That’s enough! That’s not enough! Piyyut sang.
“PopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopiaPopinpobopia.”
By the time Piyyut stopped singing “That’s not enough!” and just sang “That’s enough!” the blue lump was no longer moving.
The magic would probably soon wear off. I noticed that the origami wand I’d shoved into my pocket was all crumpled and no longer gave out any particles of light. The spell was broken. I hurried out of Mr. Igasaki’s house.
“My clothes are dirty,” I muttered to Piyyut. My clothes were soaked with the golden liquid that had spurted from the blue lump.
I suddenly remembered that Mr. Igasaki’s house was close to my elementary school. I ran there and took off all my clothes and, lighting my way with the flashlight, put them into the incinerator in the school yard. I threw the gloves and the scythe in too. My backpack wasn’t too dirty, so I hoisted it onto my back and hurried back home in my underwear.
I went in through the door quietly, then, realizing my hands were sticky, I hurried to the bathroom and, still wearing my backpack, took a shower.
That’s enough! That’s enough! That’s not enough! That’s not enough!
I was still hearing Piyyut singing loudly in my right ear.
“What are you doing in there?” my sister’s voice came from outside the bathroom door.
I jumped. My pink vision suddenly returned to normal, and my own emaciated flesh-colored features appeared in the bathroom mirror.
“Nothing. I sweated a lot yesterday, and I suddenly felt like having a shower.”
“I suppose you wet your bed? You’re still a baby, after all.” My sister laughed then went away, apparently satisfied.
I wrapped my sodden backpack in a towel and, hugging it to me, went back to my room.
My body felt heavy and I was terribly sleepy, exhausted from using all my magical powers.
That’s not enough! That’s not enough! That’s enough! That’s enough!
Piyyut’s song looped endlessly in my ear. Somehow I felt extremely relaxed. I quickly fell fast asleep.
The next day, I had a fever and stayed in bed. My temperature went up to nearly forty degrees, and I was taken to hospital in case it was influenza. I was diagnosed with a cold and exhaustion.
“And she hasn’t been eating properly, has she? Her immune system is weak, you know,” the doctor said.
For some reason Mom answered, “I’m sorry,” and bowed deeply.
My fever still didn’t subside, and I stayed in bed until the start of the new semester.
It was only when my fever finally let up and I went back to school and saw Shizuka that I heard Mr. Igasaki had been murdered.
“Didn’t you know? Mr. Igasaki was murdered by some pervert.”
“I didn’t know . . .”
Shizuka looked as though she’d been crying. Her eyes were all red, and she was clutching a handkerchief.
“Mr. Igasaki was so amazingly cool! That’s why he was targeted by a pervert. He’d been bothered by a stalker. He’d told a friend of his at university about it. They said he was so scared he couldn’t sleep at night and was taking sleeping pills. So when the pervert finally got into the house, he didn’t realize and was murdered in his sleep. It’s just awful!”
“Oh, it really is! Awful!” I shouted, imitating Shizuka’s tone of voice.
“They haven’t found any witnesses at all, apparently. Mr. Igasaki’s family are handing out flyers at the station calling for people to come forward. All of us at the cram school loved Mr. Igasaki, didn’t we? So we wrote a letter to his parents, saying that we must try to find the murderer and would help handing out the flyers. You’ll join us too, won’t you, Natsuki?”
“Of course!”
When I got home, I pulled out the newspaper from a few days earlier and found a report headed: ONE LESS SMILING FACE—ROBBED OF A YOUNG LIFE OVERNIGHT. According to this paper, the handsome young university student was being stalked and had been so stressed out he’d been prescribed sleeping tablets. He was such a kind young man that he couldn’t even talk to his parents about it and had only confessed his worries to a close friend. Mr. Igasaki was working part-time as a teacher in a cram school and was adored by all the children. The murder happened during the summer while his parents were away on business, and he was stabbed multiple times. His wounds were so terrible that they had to identify him from his dental records. The murderer had not yet been found, but Mr. Igasaki had told his friend that he was being followed by a white van, and the police were seeking witnesses with information on any suspect vans in the area.
It was a strange feeling. So what was the blue lump I’d killed? Mr. Igasaki hadn’t even been there. I’d only done battle with the Wicked Witch, but the Witch herself had disappeared without a trace.
The hearing in my right ear still came and went. My mouth was completely broken, I could only sense if something was hot or cold. I still had no appetite, but Mom was strict about not wasting any food so I forced myself to finish meals at home, although at school I got away with eating less.
Every Saturday and Sunday after cram school I went to the station and joined Mr. Igasaki’s family in handing out flyers. They read: “Appeal for witnesses! The murderer who robbed us of a precious life mustn’t get away with it!”
Mr. Igasaki’s parents were an extremely well-mannered, refined couple, and I firmly returned their handshake as they tearfully thanked each of us in turn.
Every day when I went home, I would try talking with Piyyut.
You killed the Wicked Witch. You killed the Wicked Witch. Thank you! Thank you!
Whatever I asked him, that’s all he would say.
“Where did that blue lump go? Maybe Mr. Igasaki was killed by the Wicked Witch rather than by a pervert?”
You killed the Wicked Witch! Thank you! Thank you!
He just kept repeating the same phrases over and over again, as if he was broken.
Had the Wicked Witch that day been a dream? I was beginning to wonder whether that was actually the case.
I carried on handing out flyers outside the station with friends from cram school. One day we were on our way home when Shizuka told me, “It seems they haven’t found the murder weapon. The police suspect it’s not a knife but something like a garden scythe.”
“A garden scythe?”
“What was that pervert thinking. It’s so scary! I hope they arrest him soon.”
“So scary!” I said, imitating Shizuka, thinking to myself that the murderer must have found the scythe I used to kill the Wicked Witch and used it to murder Mr. Igasaki.
First thing on Monday morning I rushed to the school incinerator, but I couldn’t find any trace of the items I’d thrown away that day. I thought that at least the blade if not the clothes must be left, but all that was in there was photocopy paper and regular trash.
I went back home and looked at the backpack that I’d stuffed under the bed back when it was still wet, expecting to see some of the gold liquid stuck to it, but instead there were only some small black stains on the shoulder straps.
Every night I tried to talk to Piyyut.
