Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

Kizu was quite dazzled by these young women's brisk way of work- ing. The meal they laid out on the dining table was a kind of brunch, a word now even used in Japan, and Kizu found himself unexpectedly nostalgic for life in America. Seeing Japanese homestyle meals becoming, in an entirely natural way, so close to ones in America made him realize how long he'd been away from his homeland.

Ms. Asuka, with her round forehead and long thin eyebrows, sat across from Kizu, looking quite aloof. She was adroitly eating ham with a slice of soft-boiled egg on top, and this, too, struck Kizu as part of a new Japanese way of eating. Unexpectedly, she asked him a direct question.

"There'll be TV cameramen at Patron's press conference this afternoon, won't there? If Patron is starting up his movement again, I'd like to record his sermon on video. I mentioned this to Ogi, and he sounded out Patron. I know a press conference and a sermon are different, but when I asked Dancer if I could start filming today for practice, she said I should ask you. "

"I think it would be all right, though I'm sort of feeling my way into this new role," Kizu ventured timidly.

"If Patron is officially launching his new movement, I'd like to bring my brother with me," Ms. Tachibana said.

"I have no idea how Patron plans to develop this new movement. One thing he did say in his announcement was that it's not a reverse Somersault.

And it's clear that he's appealing to new participants like you," Kizu said.

"We're really looking forward to it," Ms. Asuka said calmly, and Ms.

Tachibana nodded in agreement.

"Ikuo and I, too, have decided to follow Patron, but honestly speaking, that's all there is to it. There's no way I could replace Guide."

The three sat there silently, lost in their own thoughts. Their conver- sation may have come to a halt, but the dining area was filled with unusual vitality.

Only a handful of reporters showed up for Patron's afternoon press conference, representing one national newspaper, one national wire service, one Nagasaki newspaper-Kizu wondered why Nagasaki, but Patron said that was where Guide was from-and two weekly magazines. In addition to the reporters, a few photographers also showed up for the conference, which was set up by connecting the dining room and the living room. Though there were so few participants, with the sofas pushed off to one side next to the slid- ing glass door leading to the garden, and TV cameras from the TV station set up, it did have the feeling of a genuine press conference.

The reporters were asked to sit directly on the carpeting. Flanking them were Kizu and Ms. Tachibana. Ikuo, who had returned with Ogi, was hold- ing the urn that contained Guide's remains. In addition, there were three brawny men in their late thirties who had not given their names to Ms. Asuka, who was in charge of having people sign in, insisting instead that they'd al- ready cleared things. The men wore humble-looking outfits not in keeping with their robust physiques. As they settled down hesitantly into seats behind the TV crew, Ikuo watched them carefully but didn't acknowledge them.

Kizu could sense that Ogi, who as the emcee made a few opening re- marks before Patron appeared, was nervous about the presence of these men.

Ikuo, in contrast, couldn't have appeared more nonchalant.

Patron came into the room, accompanied by Dancer. The partition be- tween the dining room and the living room, which was one level lower, was set up for use as a table, and they had placed a chair there for Patron. He was dressed in navy blue cotton slacks and a paisley collared shirt, with a black denim shirt over it. Dancer, her arm around his back as they walked, wore a form-fitting green dress, adding a bit of accent to Patron's conser- vative appearance.

Patron sat down in the chair and Dancer stood to one side behind him.

Ogi had already taken up a similar position on Patron's other side. Kizu no- ticed how Dancer kept her eyes on the young men sitting behind the TV crew.

Previously somber, the young men were now suddenly rejuvenated as they trained their attention on Patron. For his part Patron swept the assemblage with his eyes, without paying attention to anyone in particular. He looked at Ogi and began speaking, sounding less like he was holding a press confer- ence than just having a private conversation.

"I'm planning to hold a memorial service and give a sermon to pay trib- ute to Guide's suffering… I assume you all have a copy of my announcement?"

Patron paused and looked out, head raised, as if to make sure the tele- vision crew had set up their camera in a good position for a view of his face and torso. Ms. Asuka stood beside the TV crew, video camera in hand. Kizu noticed a faint smile on her lips.

Before the reporters showed up, Kizu had expressed his misgivings to Dancer about allowing Patron to appear, defenseless, in front of the media.

She didn't answer him directly but did say that when she told Patron the name of the TV producer she'd met with he was relieved and seemed to be plan- ning to talk to the TV camera rather than the newspaper reporters.

"Is Ogi sending out invitations to the memorial service to people who said they'd like to attend?" Patron asked. "Ever since Guide's disaster was reported, he's been receiving e-mails and other communications. I'd like to hold the service within three weeks, and I'd like you to start thinking about a venue. We need to consider the scale of the meeting, and how many invita- tions to send out, so you'll need to confirm by checking Ogi's list. So far he has over two hundred names.

"We'll expand from this base of two hundred people. I plan to give a major sermon at the memorial service. I'm not expecting all the people who attend the service to want to participate in my new movement, but with that many people assembled I do want to announce the restarting of our up-till- now dormant movement. I'm also hoping people in the media will cover this announcement.

"At the start of our new movement, I want to make one position clear.

As our church expands-starting with Japan but including the entire world- we will never again compromise. I will call on every single person on this planet to repent. I want our church and all our activities to be permeated with this urgent call for universal repentance.

"After the Somersault, Guide and I fell into the abjectness of hell, where I was forced to ponder the salvation of mankind. Guide was the one pilot we could rely on. Just as we resurfaced, though, he was cruelly murdered. At the same time, this proved to me that the time to take action was near. I want to appeal again to people to repent at the coming end of the world. In order to carry this out, I will fight the final battle against the entire human race on this planet. My church does not possess nuclear weapons, nor does it manu- facture chemical weapons. People might wonder how we can possibly carry out a such a battle, and laugh at us for trying, but I believe we can and must fight. At the cost of his own life, Guide protected mankind's Patron-in other words, me. His death has revealed my legitimacy. In the end, people like us will emerge victorious."

When Patron ended there was applause, which startled Kizu. His sur- prise was also due in part to the strange feeling he got from what Patron had just said. Stretching themselves upward, the three vigorous young men be- hind the TV crew were among those clapping. Patron looked in their direc- tion for the first time and appeared to be searching his memory.

Seeing that Patron was not about to begin speaking again, a small dark- skinned man stood up to ask a question. He was the city section reporter from the national newspaper. He had been exchanging whispered comments with the woman beside him, a colleague by the look of it, as they eyed the three men in back.