Ingrid Parker - Rashomon Gate – A Mystery of Ancient Japan

"That talented lady was your wife? In the Willow Quarter, I am told, she goes by the name Madame Sakaki."

Sato bit his lip. "Her professional name. She could hardly work there under my name."

"I see the problem. But surely you put your wife into an impossible situation? She is a true artist. Could she not have found a more respectable setting for her performances?"

A look of acute misery passed over Sato's face. "I know she deserves much better, but we are poor and have six small children and two sets of parents to support. My salary here does not begin to feed all those mouths. And I am afraid we are not in the class of those who are invited to the parties of the great."

Embarrassed by the naked shame in the other man's face, Akitada looked out at the deserted courtyard. The heat shimmered on the gravel, and there was a strange sulphurous hue to the green of the trees. A hot wind was rustling through the dry weeds outside the veranda. "I think," he said, turning back to Sato, "you should tell your story to the president of the university. I have found Bishop Sesshin a very understanding man, and he may be able to help your wife. He has many friends among the great.

"I wish I could be more reassuring about Kobe. Though I did not discuss your situation with him, he has other sources, and I am afraid he knows that Oe was not the kind of man who would have accepted your wife's occupation calmly."

Sato looked down at his clenched hands. "That was the main reason for all the subterfuge. But the more we tried to cover up, the more gossip we created. Because I went to the Willow Quarter regularly to watch over my wife, I soon had a reputation of being a drunkard and womanizer. I got Omaki as a student on one of my visits. My wife was against the private lessons, but we needed the money. Oh, that pompous devil Oe would not begin to know what it is to have a family and be poor." He gave Akitada a beseeching look. "But you, Sugawara, you have a mother and sisters to support, I'm told. You must know that I would never do anything so desperate as kill a man. If I were caught, my family would starve to death. Please speak to Kobe for me, will you?"

They looked at each other. Akitada tried to reassure the man. "I know exactly what you mean and I believe you. Do not worry about Kobe! Go home to your wife and children, and tomorrow speak to Sesshin."

Tears of gratitude welled up in Sato's eyes. Too overcome to speak, he bowed very deeply and left. His footsteps receded quickly, and silence fell over the courtyard again.

Akitada sat, thinking of the devotion of those two people to each other and their family. He had himself only just come to understand fully the sacrifice a man made to the one he loved. He, too, would gladly accept any hardship and humiliation to secure Tamako's happiness.

It was then that the sound of distant thunder startled him. He rose to walk outside. The sun, bright as molten gold, was disappearing over the tiled rooftops of the student dormitories, but the sky northward and to the east was filling rapidly with heavy, roiling black clouds. A storm was moving in, and the long heat wave was finally about to break. Akitada thought worriedly that the weather might keep his visitor away.

Thunder growled again. Sighing, Akitada returned to his classroom to pass the time till darkness fell by grading his student papers.

He had to light his oil lamp early. It spread a yellow glow over his papers, but left the corners of the room in murky shadows. There was, from time to time, a far-off rumble of thunder, but the storm seemed to hold off.

He was not sure how long he had been working when he heard the sound of footsteps crunching on the gravel of the courtyard. When he glanced outside, there was still some faint light in the east. Surely it was too early! And Kobe had not arrived.

Feeling a sudden twinge of nervousness, he forced himself to remain calm by breathing deeply and concentrating on the coming encounter. The steps ascended the wooden stairs, approached to within a few feet of the open door, and then halted outside in the murky gloom.

"Please come in!" Akitada called out.

To his stunned surprise, the tall figure of Ishikawa stepped through his doorway. The student looked positively frightening in the uncertain light and against the backdrop of dark purple clouds. His face was still dreadfully disfigured by swellings and bruises. Both his scalp and his face were covered with stubbly growth that, together with his stained and torn robe, made him look like a cutthroat. Moreover, his sneering expression and distinctly threatening manner signalled that this visit was more than just ill-timed.

"Working late all by yourself?" the student scoffed, looking about with a mocking grin. "What an admirable devotion to duty!"

Akitada rinsed out his brush and laid it on its rest. "How did you get out of jail and what do you want?" he asked curtly.

Uninvited Ishikawa sat down on the other cushion in the room. "Not very hospitable, are you? I had the same problem in our municipal jail. That's why I decided to leave. That and some unfinished business here." He gave Akitada a very unpleasant smile. "You might as well relax! I mean to take my time."

Akitada's first thought was about Kobe. Did he know the student had escaped? Was he even now out searching the town for him? For a moment he debated whether it would be possible to get rid of Ishikawa, but a glance at the other's face convinced him otherwise. He snapped, "Please be brief! I expect another visitor."

Ishikawa glanced out the door. "I doubt it. A bad storm is coming. The whole place is deserted." He gave Akitada another of his menacing smiles. "Anything can happen here without a soul being the wiser. Besides, your plans mean nothing to me. People like you are always demanding respect from others, but are nothing but shams themselves. Every day you and the other teachers urge poor fools like me to study hard, but when we have done our utmost and excel, you give the prize to the highest bidder."The wind rustled in the dry shrubs outside, and Ishikawa paused to listen intently. Branches were scraping against the supports of the veranda as lighting zigzagged against the darkening sky. The flame of the oil lamp flickered, causing Ishikawa's eyes to glitter strangely. "I am referring, of course," he continued, "to that rich simpleton Okura who bought first place honors in the last examination. He is a secretary in the Bureau of Ranks now and has prospects of even higher office, while I am headed back to the gutter I came from. A prime example that money will buy anything, while a poor man cannot succeed in spite of his efforts and superior intelligence."

Akitada looked at the student coldly. "If you are trying to justify yourself, it appears to me that you have demonstrated exceptionally foolish and unethical behavior throughout this affair. Get to the point!"

"The point?" Ishikawa's eyes narrowed to mere slits. "The point is that people like you and the other professors detest students like me! I was someone who wouldn't keep quiet. Oh, yes. I know all about you. Kobe let it slip out that he arrested me on your word. Tell me, have you ever been in jail?"

Akitada shook his head. No point in telling this young hothead that there were other ways in which a man might learn about such places.

"Of course not! Well, let me inform you, Sugawara, that the so-called keepers of the peace are low animals. They are ex-criminals who do their dirty work for a daily bowl of rice and what they can extort from the prisoners. They take a sadistic pleasure in inflicting pain."

"You have only yourself to thank. You are an admitted blackmailer."

Ishikawa flared up, "Oe owed me."

"You also prostituted your education by helping Okura cheat."

"So that's it!" Ishikawa smiled unpleasantly. Outside thunder cracked and rumbled away. When all was quiet again, he sneered, "And that, of course, is the unforgivable sin to you! You make me sick! I've heard all about you from Hirata. The university's perfect graduate, the exceptional student, the promising young official with his foot on the bottom rung of the ladder to greatness!"The student leaned forward, fixing Akitada with his angry eyes. "Let me tell you something: that numskull Okura, who cannot compose so much as a sentence in Chinese without making a gross error and who has neither understanding nor intellectual curiosity, has already surpassed you and will continue to do so by many ranks and degrees. In this world neither excellence nor honesty have any value. Money and influence rule everything. And when I discovered that fact, I attempted to rectify an unfair situation by trading a bit of my intelligence for his money. I consider that an act of justice in an unjust world." He resumed his position with an air of satisfaction.