Koji Suzuki - Edge

“Where the magnetic field drops to zero …”

Seiji nodded slowly. The wormhole would open there. Seiji clicked his tongue and pressed his knee against Saeko’s waist.

“Get the hell out of here. I’ve finished talking. Go and clear up the shit I’ve left behind.”

Saeko translated the coarse words into her father’s message:

Sae, you’ve got no time, you’ve got to go now. Apply your mind, you can get through this. Having lived in the place of 515 people, that’s your mission .

Saeko put her arms under Seiji’s shoulders and tried to pull him up from the chair. Seiji clenched his face and groaned in pain, clutching at his legs.

“Stop it! What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m not going to leave you here. Come with me.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Please, don’t leave me again.” Saeko gave up trying to lift him and started to pull on the chair itself.

“Wake up for god’s sake, and get out of here. I’m not your damned father, I’m Seiji.”

Saeko pulled on the chair, tipping it so she could drag it along the floor. The legs shrieked as they scraped along the wooden floorboards, but it was no use. He was too heavy and the chair collapsed backwards, sending him tumbling across the floor. His legs impacted on the hard boards, making him writhe on the floor, convulsing like an agonized caterpillar. His nails scratched at the floor and his features contorted from the killing pain.

“I can’t go through. Even if I did, I’d only assume some half-ass fallen form. I’ve already tried a few times. I wouldn’t even be born as a human.

“Take a good look at me. I’m not what I used to be. I sold my soul to the Devil, and this is all that’s left. If you take me through that wormhole, I might come out the other end as some disgusting wriggling insect. I’m not ready for that. That’s nothing but pain. That’s all that would be waiting for me, a never-ending cycle of degradation.

“Please, babe, let me end this. Let me go. Go now, by yourself.”

Saeko looked down at the man that had been her father and become Seiji. He looked almost at peace. It had been within his grasp to deprive Kota of power, to bring good into this world, but his attachment for her had stalled him. He must be feeling relieved that soon he would be freed of his punishment for allowing the world to collapse. He wanted to transcend the cycle of life and death, the suffering of successive falls. His attachments extinguished, he would enter nirvana. He welcomed the phase transition and all that it meant.

“Dammit, go already. The whole point of …” His words trailed off into silence.

“Dad …” Unable to decide, she stood looking helplessly down at the crumpled form before her.

“Hurry up and go. You’ll find somewhere where you can thrive, I’m sure of it. Just do the best you have in you to do .”

Strength coursed through Saeko’s body.

Just do the best you have in you to do.

Again, her father’s words. She had heard them so many times.

“All right. I’m going.”

She kneeled down and reached to help him up from the floor, but he lashed out, knocking her hand away. “Hurry and go.”

He lay still as though he might be sleeping. For the briefest of moments, his serpentine face reminded Saeko of a statue of an enlightened bodhisattva.

Saeko stood up awkwardly and started to walk away, dragging her feet heavily. When she reached the hallway, she turned around.

“Goodbye, Daddy.”

She’d barely finished saying this as she sprinted to the threshold and exited the house. Almost all signs of starlight had vanished from the sky, and it was noticeably blacker than before.

Saeko searched for her car under the looming darkness. The utter silence froze the air and rubbed the cold into her skin. Worse than the chill, the quietude was suffocating.

She fumbled for the car keys in her bag and pushed the unlock button. The orange lights of the car’s indicators flashed once, twice, beckoning from just thirty feet ahead.

Just when she took a final look back up at the Fujimuras’ the lights in the living room went off, and the whole edifice was swallowed into the surrounding darkness. Saeko stepped into the car and turned the key in the ignition.

She leant back in the seat and took in a deep breath. Then, shaking off all hesitation, she started down the hill.

In thirty minutes it would be midnight. The Akiha Road saw hardly any traffic even during the middle of the day, and she hadn’t seen a single car since she left. The driving time to the pass was only ten minutes.

The Bungui Pass was located in the middle of deeply forested mountains, directly west of Senjogatake, the center of Japan’s Southern Alps. Tall mountainsides loomed on either side of the road, blending with the night sky, but it wasn’t pitch dark. Even without the headlamps the parking area was bathed in light and visible up ahead. Wherever they came from, five bands of light rose from behind the mountain like halos. Rather than thin and piercing, they were soft and comforting.

Saeko flicked off the headlights and cut the engine. She looked ahead and waited for her eyes to grow accustomed to the ethereal twilight.

A sign propped up towards the side of the clearing indicated a narrow footpath leading towards the zero magnetic field, just twenty meters onwards. The physical properties of the location were widely believed to have healing powers, and on fine days there would be lines of people with untreatable afflictions. They would stand for hour after hour, hoping somehow to reap the benefits of the unique properties of the zero magnetic field.

Saeko was here with a more defined purpose. Whatever happened now, she had to cross into a new world. Tasks no doubt awaited her in the land, and she would do the best she had in her to do. Having survived at such a high cost, it was a mission, and the only way to do good by her father.

Saeko stepped out of the rental car and began to tread through the undergrowth towards her destination. A small area opened up on the hillside a short way down the path. Of course, at this time of night there were no other people to be seen. The space contained a few simple plankwood benches. Saeko sat on one and found her eyes naturally following the lines of the deep valley that stretched out below.

At the bottom of a landscape topped by ridges, Saeko could make out the lights of Takato. Today was Christmas, and lots of people would still be up. But this year, Christmas would be the last thing on their minds. Instead they would be glued to their television sets, following every development regarding the news of the strange occurrences. They understood that stars were disappearing and the Earth was tearing in an unprecedented manner but not that the world had only a few hours left.

Saeko waited alone in the silent clearing, buffeted by the frozen mountain air around her. Trees were sparse in the zero magnetic field area, so Saeko could look up to count the stars — literally, since their numbers had diminished.

She had learned to cope with being alone after losing her father at seventeen, but somehow the empty space in the mountains brought a new depth to her loneliness. She wouldn’t be able to cope for more than an hour.

Just then, the ring of her cellphone broke through the silence. She looked at the display to check the name — Hashiba. She took the call with a certain desperation.

The voice was Hashiba’s all right, but his voice sounded different, almost clingy. Every now and again he let out a sob, making it impossible to make out what he was saying. She managed to pick up a few words: Machu Picchu, devil.

“Where are you? What’s going on?”