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On the back of her business card, the vice principal wrote down the teacher’s name
and the phone number of the school, the
Tsudanuma elementary school, and handed it
to Ushikawa. Ushikawa carefully stashed the card in his billfold.
“I heard that Miss Aomame was raised with some sort of religious background,”
Ushikawa said. “We are a bit concerned about this.”
The vice principal frowned, tiny lines forming at the corners of her eyes. The kind
of subtle, charming, intelligent lines acquired only by middle-aged women who have
taken great care to train themselves.
“I’m sorry, but that is not a subject we can discuss here,” she said.
“It touches on areas of personal privacy, doesn’t it,” Ushikawa asked.
“That’s correct. Especially issues dealing with religion.”
“But if I meet with this Miss Ota, I might be able to ask her about this.”
The vice principal inclined her slender jaw slightly to the left and smiled
meaningfully. “If Miss Ota wishes to speak as a private individual, that is no concern
of ours.”
Ushikawa stood up and politely thanked her. She handed him the brown business
envelope. “The materials we could copy are inside. Documents pertaining to Mr.
Kawana. There’s
a little bit, too, concerning Miss Aomame. I hope it’s helpful to
you.”
“I’m sure it will be. Thank you very much for all you have done. You’ve been very
kind.”
“When the results of that grant are decided, you’ll be sure to let us know, won’t
you? This will be a great honor for our school.”
“I’m positive there will be a good outcome,” Ushikawa said. “I have met him a
number of times and he is a talented young man with a promising future.” Ushikawa
stopped at a diner in front of Ichikawa Station, ate a simple lunch, and looked through
the material in the envelope. There was a basic record of attendance at the school for
both Tengo and Aomame, as well as records of awards
given to Tengo for his
achievements in academics and sports. He did indeed seem to be an extraordinary
student. He probably never once thought of school as a nightmare. There was also a
copy of a newspaper article about the math contest he had won. It was an old article
and the photo wasn’t very clear, but it was obviously Tengo as a boy.
After lunch Ushikawa phoned the Tsudanuma elementary school. He spoke with
Miss Ota, the teacher, and made an appointment to meet her at four at her school.
After four I’m free to talk, she had said.
I know it’s my job
, Ushikawa sighed,
but two elementary schools in one day is a bit
much
. Just thinking about it made him depressed. But so far it had been worth the
effort. He now had proof that Tengo and Aomame were classmates for two years—a
huge step forward.
Tengo had helped Eriko Fukada to revise
Air Chrysalis
into a decent novel, and
make it a bestseller. Aomame had secretly murdered Eriko’s father, Tamotsu Fukada,
in a suite at the Hotel Okura. It would appear that they
shared the goal of attacking, in
their own ways, the religious organization Sakigake. Perhaps they were working
together. That’s what most people would conclude.
But it wouldn’t do to tell that duo from Sakigake about this—not yet. Ushikawa
didn’t like to reveal information in fits and starts. He much preferred gathering as
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much information as he could, making absolutely sure of all the facts, and then, when
he had solid proof, revealing the results with a flourish. It was a theatrical gesture he
still retained from his days as a lawyer. He would act self-deprecating so that other
people would let down their guard. Then, just when things were drawing to a
conclusion, he would bring forth his irrefutable evidence and turn the tables.
As he rode the train to Tsudanuma, Ushikawa mentally assembled
a number of
hypotheses.
Tengo and Aomame might be lovers. They wouldn’t have been lovers when they
were ten, of course, but it was possible to see them, after they graduated from
elementary school, running into each other and growing intimate. And for some
reason—the reason was still unclear—they decided to work together to destroy
Sakigake. This was one hypothesis.
As far as Ushikawa could tell, however, there was no evidence of Tengo and
Aomame having a relationship. Tengo had maintained an ongoing affair with a
married woman ten years older than himself. If Tengo had been deeply involved with
Aomame, he would not then regularly cheat on her with another woman—he wasn’t
adroit enough to pull that off. Ushikawa had previously investigated Tengo’s habits
over a two-week period. He taught math at a
cram school three days a week, and on
the other days he was mostly alone in his apartment. Writing novels, most likely.
Other than occasionally shopping or going for a walk, he seldom left his place. It was
a very monotonous, simple lifestyle, easy to fathom. There was nothing mysterious
about it. Somehow Ushikawa just couldn’t picture him involved in a plot that
involved murdering someone.
Personally, Ushikawa liked Tengo. Tengo was an unaffected, straightforward
young man, independent and self-reliant. As is often the case with physically large
people, he tended to be a bit slow on the uptake at times, but he wasn’t sly or cunning
in the least. He was the kind of guy who, once he decided on a
course of action, never
deviated from it. The kind who would never make it as a lawyer or a stockbroker.
Rather, he was more likely to get tripped up and stumble at the most critical juncture.
He would make a good math teacher and novelist, though. He wasn’t particularly
sociable or eloquent, but he did appeal to a certain type of woman. In a nutshell, he
was the polar opposite of Ushikawa.
In contrast to what he knew about Tengo, Ushikawa knew next to nothing about
Aomame—other than her background with the Witnesses and that she had later been a
star softball player. When it came to her personality—her way of thinking, her strong
points and weaknesses, what sort of private life she led—he was clueless. The facts
that he had assembled were nothing more than what you would find on a résumé.
But while comparing the backgrounds of Tengo and Aomame, some similarities
came to light. First of all, both of them must have had unhappy childhoods. Aomame
was dragged all over town by her
mother to proselytize, slogging from house to
house, ringing doorbells. All the Witness children were made to do that. In Tengo’s
case, his father was an NHK fee collector. This was another job that involved making
the rounds from one house to the next. Had Tengo been dragged along with him?
Maybe he had. If Ushikawa had been Tengo’s father, he probably would have taken
Tengo with him on his rounds. Having a child with you helped you collect more fees,
and you saved on babysitting money—two birds with one stone. For Tengo this
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couldn’t have been much fun. Perhaps these two children even passed each other on
the streets of Ichikawa.
Second, as they grew older, Tengo and Aomame worked hard to win athletic
scholarships so they could get far away from home as quickly as possible. And both
of them turned out to be superb athletes. They both must have been pretty talented to
begin with. But there was also a reason they
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