‘That’s a rather tame swimsuit. I was expecting something like a high-leg swimsuit.’
Maria stopped her exercises for a moment.
‘Hah, you really did say it. I was willing to bet on it. If you’d been nicer, I’d have given you my copy of Clayton Rawson’s The Headless Lady.’
That’s one of the infamous out-of-print books from publisher Sōgen Suiri Bunko. Satomi was sitting nearby and the expression on her face when she suddenly heard us talking about some Headless Lady was a sight to behold. If I’d thought Maria was serious about giving me the book, I might have retracted my comment.
We swam a lot. The sea was unbelievably clear and when you dived in you could see the light of the sun piercing through the water surface and then swaying as if it was dancing. It was so beautiful I spent most of the time under water. Egami did the exact opposite and was enjoying drifting along the waves beneath the sun like a sea otter. Toshiyuki and Maria had gone off swimming all the way to who-knows-where. Satomi had only dipped a little bit in the sea, after which she remained beneath her parasol, staring absentmindedly into space.
I said goodbye to the striped pattern the swaying sunlight made on the seabed of white sand, and when I popped out of the sea, I was at a spot where I could look up at Panorama Villa through the trees. Was its master, Ryūichi Arima, taking a nap this afternoon? Kango Makihara had invited Sonobe to come along to catch some fish for dinner at the rocky stretch behind the cape, but would they be able to bring in a good catch? With so many guests to care for, the afternoons, when everyone goes their own way, had to be a time of rest for Reiko. She might be reading a book on the terrace, but I couldn’t see her from here. But I did see the figure of someone through one of the hallway windows. I squinted to see who it was.
‘What are you looking at, Alice?’
It was Maria who spoke, approaching me from behind, doing a breaststroke. She trod water next to me and looked up at the house as well.
‘Nothing. Saw someone standing near one of the windows.’
‘Kazuto perhaps? Ah, they’re all away. Kazuto might be bored now, because there’s nobody to keep him company. If only he’d study. If only.’
I remembered he was a student as well.
‘He said he’d a report coming up with a very difficult topic. He’s studying politics and he brought a portable word processor and a paperback of Max Weber with him to the island. And as he carried them all the way here anyway, he might as well start on it. Oh well.’
She swam away again, mumbling to herself. I looked over at the beach and saw Toshiyuki Inukai walking towards Satomi sitting beneath the parasol, bringing with him a souvenir from the seabed: a shell.
Egami was still floating around in leisurely fashion.
Right about the time when we’d returned from the beach, taken a shower and were about to return to our rooms, we came upon Kazuto coming down from the attic room. He was holding the rifle in his hand, so I jumped a little.
‘I’m going to shoot some rounds now. It’s a Remington, a repeating rifle. What about you trying it out as well? It’s not often you get to hold one of these, so you can brag about it to your friends.’
‘Are you shooting targets?’ asked Egami, his hair not yet dry.
Kazuto nodded.
‘I’d like to be able to say I’d made a shooting range nearby, but it’s nothing much really. I place some juice cans on the ground and shoot standing. Simply a game where I can measure from how far away I can hit the target. I’m an awful shot, but it’s fun. Come along.’
‘Right you are.’
As I replied, a door farther down the corridor opened and Maria appeared.
‘I was just asking these two if they’d like to come along for some target shooting.’ Kazuto lifted the rifle in his right hand to show her. ‘Maria, you can come along as well.’
‘I’ll pass. I’m exhausted. But they look like they’re interested, so please go. Reading adventure novels might become more exciting if they’ve actually tried it once. But please stop if you think you’re getting too hooked on it.’
So, since it might be educational, we decided to take Kazuto up on his offer. As I passed Maria in the hallway, she whispered: ‘Never point your rifle at anyone,’ to me. She really did look a bit tired as she disappeared into her room and closed the door.
We passed through the empty hallway and went outside. Two of the bicycles were no longer there: Junji and Sumako Makihara had gone off to the observation platform. Kazuto followed the road, which shone a mesmerising white from the reflection of the strong sunlight, for about fifty metres. He suddenly stopped next to some trees on the left.
‘This way.’
We followed him and, crossing through the trees, we came out on a cliff overlooking the northern part of the bay. There was no path on the edge of this side of the cliff, but there was an open space of about a hundred metres wide we could use for shooting.
‘I’ll prepare the targets, so hold this.’
After giving the rifle to Egami, Kazuto made a short run to a point fifty metres up ahead. The cans of sports drinks and cola lying around there were obviously the targets. Kazuto placed three of them at different distances and ran back.
‘I placed them at thirty, fifty and eighty metres. Try shooting the one at thirty metres first.’
Egami handed the rifle back to Kazuto and said: ‘A demonstration first, please.’
Kazuto looked as if he was pleased to be asked, and a faint smile appeared in the corner of his mouth.
He fed cartridges into the rifle. His hands were clearly used to the motions.
‘It’s a stationary target, so the only thing you have to do is to steady the rifle.’
So saying, he spread his feet farther apart than the width of his shoulders and held the rifle at the ready.
‘Bend slightly backwards and line the target up using the sight. Don’t put your weight on your back foot, but divide it evenly between both legs….’
He stopped there. His tongue protruded slightly from the corner of his mouth and he licked his lower lip. I concentrated on the target.
Bang! Gunpowder flew out and the can thirty metres up ahead flew through the air. One shot, one hit.
‘Wow,’ I let out, impressed. The smell of gunpowder reached my nose.
‘Well, it’s easy at this distance,’ he said, looking pleased. It was almost childish, shooting at empty cans.
‘Fifty metres might be too difficult the first time. I’ll go and reset the thirty metres target. But first I’ll take care of the remaining ones.’
He raised the rifle again, took some seconds to aim and pulled the trigger. Another shot, and then another. The can at fifty metres and the can at eighty metres flew away one after the other.
Playing at being humble, I thought. This was way more than a children’s game. An awful shot, he’d said? He obviously had quite a lot of confidence in his own skills. The proud smile on his face as he looked up from the sight was proof of that. He’d invited us to come along simply because he wanted to show off his own skill.
‘I’ll go and reset the targets again, so please hold this.’
Kazuto ran away, humming. How many times was he planning to walk up and down there? Or was he not expecting us to hit any targets at all?
Egami had been lost in thought with the rifle in his hands.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘No, I was just thinking that shooting a few empty cans on the ground wouldn’t have me—’
‘What?’
‘I was watching his face as he was pulling the trigger just now. Every time he made a shot he kept repeating silently “damn.”’
What a strange guy. The strange guy had lined up the empty cans again and had come running back in a cheerful mood.
Egami looked over towards the sea. I followed the direction of his eyes, and saw a black line on the horizon. At the same moment that I thought something might be coming close, Egami’s hair started dancing
in the wind.
After we’d returned to Panorama Villa, Kazuto went upstairs to place the rifle back in the attic room. Egami and I sat down in the chairs by the French windows. There were people out on the terrace. One of them was Maria. Had she come down here after an afternoon nap, or had she not slept at all? The other person was Sumako. The two of them were sitting out on the sundeck, chatting. Carried by the wind, their talk reached our ears.
‘Maria, which of them do you like?’
‘What?’
‘Which of them is your favourite, Mr. Egami or Alice? Or are you still not sure?’
They would only be having this talk because they hadn’t noticed we were behind them. Unwittingly, my eyes met those of Egami. Maria was about to answer.
‘Sumako, please don’t talk about it as if I’m in a store, comparing which of the two men is better.’
‘Even I don’t choose whom I fall in love with by balancing men on a scale. With simple friends it might be different, but there’s no need to be so hesitant about someone you’re in love with. Oh, so those two are just male friends?’
‘Yes.’ Maria leaned slightly forward towards Sumako. ‘Sumako, have you never been in love with two men at the same time?’
‘No. What? Do I look like such a fickle person?’
Sumako was speaking gently and, while I couldn’t see from where I was sitting, I could imagine a smile had appeared on her face.
‘I wouldn’t say fickle, but someone who falls in love more easily. Like the time you fell in love with Mr. Hirakawa.’
‘Watch it.’ Sumako raised her hand pretending to be angry. ‘Don’t talk about that anymore. It’s embarrassing, and what if my husband should hear about it?’
‘Sorry. You’re with Junji now. You and Mr. Hirakawa….’
Maria didn’t finish her sentence.
‘That’s all over,’ Sumako said quietly.
The two became silent for a moment, their hair fluttering in the wind.
‘It’s really nothing now. When we meet now, we just talk normally.’
‘You’re both adults.’
Sumako shook her head.
‘It’s all we can do.’
Egami poked me with his elbow. Silently, I nodded and we both sneaked away from there. The two on the sundeck never noticed we’d been there and kept on talking.
We went upstairs, where Junji was leaning against the hallway window, looking outside towards High Tide Cape. It didn’t appear as if he’d noticed his wife sitting downstairs on the terrace. Even if he had noticed her, he could never have heard the conversation because of the women’s quiet voices.
The door next to the staircase opened and Kango appeared. His eyes met those of Junji, who had turned around, but neither of them reacted to the other. Junji looked out to sea again, and Kango nodded to us and went quickly down the stairs.
4
‘Mr. Egami is a natural. Alice wasn’t that bad either. But if I praise them too much they might get too hooked on it, so I’ll leave it at that,’ Kazuto said in a loud voice, grinning.
Our target shooting had become the topic of discussion at the dining table. Our lesson had stopped as soon as Egami and I had both finally managed to hit the thirty metre target. Neither of us had any special interest in guns, so we were content with just the experience of having handled real firearms.
‘Kazuto, have you been taking good care of the rifle? What if it should explode in an accident?’ Reiko asked, concerned.
‘That would be a disaster. A scandal for the Arima family.’
Kango laughed in his hoarse voice. He looked extremely pleased, probably because he and Sonobe had caught a big sea bream. I surmised that he hadn’t yet had the unpleasant talk with his daughter about debts. I glanced at Sumako and Junji. Still uncertain about whether they would successfully raise money, neither of them appeared to me to be having a carefree dinner. Junji in particular showed a distressed expression at times. Probably because Sumako was taking her time in talking to her father about their debts. If you’re so desperate, just try and ask yourself…. But then my eyes met those of Junji, and I quickly turned away. Oh no. Oh no. That was way too unnatural.
‘You two, let’s have a drink tonight,’ the doctor invited us from across the table. ‘Young and old, let’s all get drunk with my Scotch and have a talk. But none of that whisky-and-water stuff.’
‘Don’t say such rash things, Doctor,’ said the artist Hirakawa. ‘What if one of us gets acute alcohol poisoning?’
‘I’ll give you a free examination, haha.’
The doctor laughed with his mouth wide open, probably because of the beers he’d had. He talked tough, but he’d probably be the first to go down. Oh well, even if he did go under, I don’t think I’d need to worry about anyone telling me to carry him all the way back to his room, like that time I went out drinking with all of my club seniors. At least that was a relief. Hirakawa might actually have been the heaviest drinker there.
‘Maria, you’re of drinking age now, aren’t you? Won’t you join us?’
Maria shook her head in response to Hirakawa’s question. ‘I don’t really drink.’
‘Bring out the sake then.’ The doctor laughed cheerfully again. Maria pouted.
‘I can’t take much.’
‘Maria, tell us about Kyōto.’
She declined Kazuto’s invitation as well. She might still be tired from having swum for so long. Kazuto clicked his tongue lightly and dug into his fried chicken. He obviously wasn’t the smooth talker he thought himself to be.
‘I heard the typhoon was coming closer. I wonder how that’ll turn out?’
Ryūichi had asked the question to no one in particular as he wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. ‘Indeed,’ said Toshiyuki who got up to switch on the little television set in the corner of the room. It was time for the local news and it was reporting on a traffic accident with two fatalaties on the National Highway near Kagoshima.
‘I asked a high school student in Okinawa this morning,’ said Kazuto as he was using a toothpick on the pieces of meat stuck between his teeth. ‘Said the wind was tremendous. It was moving slowly north-east.’
‘You asked by wireless?’ asked Maria.
‘Yeah. That was at nine this morning, so by now it might be past the shore of southern Okinawa and be heading straight this way. Listen….’ He placed his hand against his ear. ‘Isn’t that the wind blowing now?’
The discussion ceased for a moment, as everyone concentrated on listening. I could hear the trees rustling. It might have been my imagination, but the noise of the waves also sounded louder than yesterday.
‘No, you’re right. That’s the wind starting to build up. It’s coming for sure,’ said Kango without any sign of anxiety. ‘We need to board up the windows.’
‘The elderly can stay in their seats. We have enough young men here to do the job,’ said Sonobe.
I remembered the black shadow I’d seen on the horizon during our target shooting. That must have been the typhoon. This would be the first time I’d actually seen one, and when I thought how something so sinister and large was heading this way and would soon be right over our heads and swallowing us whole, I felt a chill run down my spine.
‘We’re still safe tonight. Boarding up the windows can wait until tomorrow. Kazuto, bring the bicycles inside. Mr. Hirakawa’s as well.’
‘Okay,’ replied Kazuto.
‘It’s the weather report,’ said Toshiyuki, turning up the volume. Everyone turned to the television. It showed footage from the weather satellite Himawari, but I couldn’t make out the details on the small television. Everyone listened to the announcer.
‘At six o’clock tonight the large and violent Typhoon No. 12 reached a point eighty kilometres south-east of Ishigaki Island. The pressure in the centre of the typhoon was 950 millibars and the top instantaneous wind speed reached forty metres—.’
At that rate, the rain and wind would become worse over the course of the night
and the island would find itself inside a storm area by eight o’clock in the morning.
‘What shall we do? Board up the windows tonight?’ I asked, as if I was the representative of all the young men present. Ryūichi immediately replied that there was no need for that.
‘We’ll probably still have enough time to do it tomorrow morning, and the typhoon might veer off to head for somewhere else in the meantime. There’s no need to do all that work right before the rain starts. Both you and Mr. Egami are our guests, so you don’t need to worry about that.’
Being their perfect guest, without having to do any work, didn’t feel right. But there was nothing I could do but nod and scratch my head.
Raindrops beat on the windows. The long arm of the typhoon had reached Kashikijima just as Ryūichi had finished saying “before the rain starts.” However, it was still a soft rain.
‘It’s starting. How awful that the typhoon comes at night.’
Sumako’s face clouded, but next to her Junji was swiggng beer down just as he’d done yesterday, his face all red. As if he didn’t care about any typhoon.
‘Panorama Villa will be fine,’ said Hirakawa gently as if to calm Sumako down.
‘I must be rather fortunate to have been invited here tonight. I’ll be fine here even if my own abode is taken by the wind. There’s an old tradition of enjoying a snowstorm over a drink, so Doctor, let’s enjoy the typhoon over a drink tonight.’
Sonobe replied that he was only too ready.
The slow dinner finally ended. Black clouds were gathering.
Every one of us could feel the storm coming through our skins.
Thus the night of the second day...started.
5
A loud bang sounded.
Both Reiko and Maria, who were walking towards the glass top table, ducked.
The Moai Island Puzzle Page 8