Dogra Magra (42/47)

by Hisashi Yumeno

The events brought about by that demon of fate were truly fateful. On November 22, Meiji 40 (1907), a boy was born in an annex of a leather merchant's house in Matsuzono, outside Fukuoka City, where the two had been living in hiding. He was a child as beautiful as a jewel. The moment he heard the baby's cry, M, who had been silent until then, for the first time posed a mystery to T-ko. He said, "I heard there's an illustrated scroll that curses the boys of the Wu family." Here, W was slightly preempted by M.

Then, even T-ko, perhaps overcome with maternal affection, confessed everything. Her confession was as follows:

"From a young age, I loved reading books and drawing pictures. As soon as I became aware of things, I often went to the temple alone to gaze at and copy the fusuma paintings said to have been drawn by Kotei-sama, and the celestial beings on the transoms that he himself carved. While doing so, I overheard villagers who came to worship talking about the temple's origins, unaware of my presence, and I was deeply moved as a child. When I heard that there was a detailed record of the temple's origins remaining, I desperately wanted to see it. Waiting for a time when no one was around, I pretended to go look at the paintings and searched the abbot's bookshelf, and sure enough, I found the record of origins."

"When I saw that document, I felt an unbearable regret for the illustrated scroll that was said to have been burned. I went to the main hall and shook the main deity, and I could indeed feel something like a scroll inside. My heart pounded with surprise and excitement."

"However, when I told the abbot about this, I was scolded immediately. About a week later, on my way home from school, I pretended to go offer incense, removed the head of the main deity, and took out the illustrated scroll."

"However, when I unrolled that picture scroll on the second floor of an empty warehouse, I was surprised a second time, as it contained only unexpectedly terrifying images. I immediately thought of returning it to the temple, but as I looked at the mounting, I grew fond of its beauty and couldn't bear to part with it. From then on, whenever I was home alone, I would gradually peel off the paper from the back, peer at the thread distribution through a broken magic lantern's lens, and copy it onto pieces of crimson silk. Since it would be terrible if I were discovered, I burned everything I made or floated it down the Muromi River."

"And finally, once I had memorized how to create that embroidery, I repaired the peeled paper to its original state and returned the picture scroll to the womb of the main deity. Returning it was much scarier than stealing it. Soon after, I came to Fukuoka, so the picture scroll should still be inside the womb of the Miroku statue at Kisaragi-dera Temple."

"However, now that I have given birth to a child, I have come to deeply understand the horror of that picture scroll. If my older sister, Y-ko, had also given birth to a boy like me and knew about the existence of that picture scroll, she would surely feel the same way. I can understand the resentment toward Kotei-sama for not burning that picture scroll."

"Nevertheless, no one knows about the existence of that picture scroll. Only I do. Therefore, by my own decision, I offer that picture scroll as research material for your studies. Please use the power of science to break the power of that terrifying picture scroll, which is said to curse only boys descended from my family's bloodline, and prevent that curse from affecting this child. Please, I beg of you."

M was surprised but also felt joy at her tearful story. Indeed, if that were the case, it was no wonder they couldn't find it no matter how much they searched. Their search strategy and the hiding place of the picture scroll had been passing each other like a game of cat and mouse. It was understandable that they hadn't found it, having pursued the effects of chance with the power of deduction.

M, chuckling to himself, went to Meinohama without T-ko's knowledge, snuck into the main hall of Kisaragi-ji Temple, and when he pulled out the head of the principal image...

What happened next will not be explained. There is no point in explaining it.

"I leave it to the judge's discretion."

M returned from Meinohama, silently enduring the cold wind. Someday, the magical power of that picture scroll would be cursed by the six decaying beautiful statues, subjected to the cross of experimentation in the name of academia, and the face of an adorable boy would float before his eyes. At the same time, he was contemplating an unwavering resolve and strategy for when he would face the great tragedy that would inevitably befall the mother and child's future.

He returned from Matsuzono's hideout as if nothing had happened, and with a serious face, he told T-ko, who was innocently breastfeeding, a string of nonsense. The picture scroll seemed to have been taken out and hidden somewhere by the abbot or someone else, and it was no longer found inside the Miroku statue. However, he couldn't demand its return, so he gave up and came back. If he were to become a scholar and work at a university, he could then use the university's authority to have it provided as material for academic research. He said that the picture scroll issue was fine, but actually, the settlement of his family's assets in his hometown was approaching at the end of the year, and he was in trouble. He had to return quickly. On that occasion, he also wanted to conveniently sort out their family registers, so if something came up, they should contact him at a certain place... He concocted a story like this and, after reluctantly convincing her, he skipped Fukuoka University's first graduation ceremony two days later and went to Tokyo. Furthermore, he didn't return to his hometown but instead completed the transfer of his family register in Tokyo, obtained a travel permit at full speed, and flew overseas. This was the first step in the preparation for battle against the impending tragedy that had already begun to sprout in M's heart at this time. It was a declaration of war that only W would understand.

...However, W's response to this was very calm. He devoutly wore white clothes and stayed in his alma mater's laboratory. He peered into a microscope as if nothing had happened, observing everything.

The difference in personality between W and M continued to manifest itself thereafter. M traveled between universities in Europe and America, researching psychology, genetics, and psychoanalysis, which was beginning to flourish at the time. Meanwhile, he kept an eye on W's movements through domestic official gazettes and newspapers, waiting for the opportune moment. This was because M disliked giving his surname to his child, and also to avoid T-ko's pursuit. It was clear that if T-ko, a woman with an unusually sharp mind, connected M's disappearance with the loss of the Kisaragi Temple picture scroll, she would sooner or later face a terrible suspicion. She would undoubtedly ponder various reasons why W and M desired that picture scroll. And if, by any chance, with a woman's sensitive mind and the strength of maternal love, she were to imagine the true reason why the two desired the picture scroll, she would undoubtedly suspect M first and pursue him with fierce determination. M fully understood that she was a woman who might even cross national borders to pursue him if necessary.

...W, in response, whether knowingly or unknowingly, remained as calm and composed as ever. Not only did he openly expose his own name and actions, but he also ostentatiously made a name for himself overseas by successively publishing famous studies such as "Criminal Psychology," "Dual Personality," and "Psychological Evidence and Physical Evidence." However, this was also W's得意とする常套手段 (favorite stratagem), and by establishing himself as an authority in this field, it would not only serve as a kind of "mental alibi" that would prevent him from being suspected by the public when terrifying psychoscientific experiments were conducted in the future, but it would also provide an excuse for him to immediately jump into action when an incident occurred. This was likely W's clever calculation. In any case, his bold yet meticulous actions can perhaps be inferred from the method he used years later to throw the progress report of a terrifying experiment directly in the face of the very person involved.

...Thus, ten years passed, and in 1917, W, who had been studying in England for two or three years, returned to Japan. M, upon learning this, immediately followed suit and returned as well, but the timing of W's study abroad and return was a very serious matter for M. This was because after T-ko and her mother were abandoned by M, they had, in all likelihood, vacated their hideout in Matsuzono and disappeared somewhere, but W would absolutely not overlook their whereabouts, even if they hid in the heavens or burrowed into the earth. Furthermore, if W were to study abroad, it would be proof that W had securely grasped T-ko and her mother. In other words, W could study abroad with peace of mind only because he had the prospect that T-ko and her mother had settled somewhere and showed no signs of moving for the time being. If that were the case, W's return, viewed with suspicion, might mean that the time had come for some kind of concern or plan of W's regarding that point to be put into action. In other words, M could relatively easily ascertain the whereabouts of T-ko and her mother through W's actions, and that was why M, while studying abroad, constantly paid attention to domestic newspapers and official gazettes.

...However, it was clear that W was not the kind of man to show such signs. After returning to Japan, he showed no signs of leaving Fukuoka except for short business trips, and as he settled into the university every day, he was soon promoted from assistant professor to professor. Subsequently, he solved various difficult cases, and his reputation grew even more. In between, asthma attacks would occur... and so on, making him quite busy, but his demeanor remained calm and composed, and he, too, like an old dream, was constantly familiar with test tubes and blood.

...However, M was not troubled. From W's behavior after returning to Japan, M had somehow sensed that T-ko and her child were living mainly in Fukuoka City. If T-ko was still beautiful, being barely thirty years old, she must have been the subject of some rumors wherever she was. Also, if her child, I, was growing up safely with her mother without knowing who her father was, then, unless there were special circumstances, she should be using her mother's surname as M had planned. As for her age, since she was an illegitimate child, the registration might have been delayed, but it had been estimated since W's return that she was probably in the third or fourth grade of elementary school.

The rest was to investigate patiently on foot. Focusing on W's business trip destinations centered in Fukuoka as the primary target, M steadily proceeded with the investigation, and surprisingly, less than half a year after W's return, M found I's name among the fifth-grade achievement exhibits in the display room of the Tanabata festival at Nogata Elementary School. However, until then, M had been careless and had not noticed that I's grades were outstanding, and that she had skipped a grade to become a fifth grader at the age of only eleven. Therefore, M had suspected that it might be a different person.

……But perhaps some divine will was at work there. Soon, a student who entered the exhibition room happened to look back, and their gaze met M's exactly. At that moment, M couldn't help but avert their gaze. Fleeing out of the school gate, they instinctively covered their eyes and couldn't help but curse their life as a scientist. The student was entirely like their mother, with no trace of W's child in their features or appearance. And after confirming that there was no resemblance to M either, they breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately couldn't help but curse that sigh.

……The child's face, which would soon be crucified on the cross of academic experimentation and transformed into a gruesome sight, was surprisingly lovely and beautiful... their growth had been smooth... and their appearance was irresistibly gentle and innocent... Is this what Bodhicitta means? M, unable to shake off the child's pure and clear gaze that flickered before their eyes, no matter how much they tried, sang the song of the 'Madman's Hell' into which the child would undoubtedly be thrown in the future, and exposed their own shame on the main street, trying to atone for their sins. They struck a wooden fish and went around praying for the child's afterlife. ...That's how beautifully and purely the child had grown.

……W must have seen through M's actions from behind the glass window of the forensic medicine classroom at Kyushu Imperial University, and secretly displayed his unique cold smile on that pale face. He understood M's psychology of fleeing overseas and was convinced that M would return to Japan sooner or later. He was convinced that M would return to Kyushu before I reached adolescence. And he must have been waiting, having completed all research related to this experiment and made all preparations.

...This was because M, in reality, was also a slave to academia. His fervent desire to incorporate the results of this experiment into the conclusion of his lifelong research goals—the scientific principles of 'karma' and 'reincarnation,' or 'psychological heredity'—was no less intense than W's fervent desire to incorporate the magical power of this picture scroll as an example in his acclaimed masterpiece, 'Crimes and Their Evidence in Applied Mental Science,' on which W had poured his heart and soul. W undoubtedly believed that this picture scroll possessed such research value and allure.

...But... but... how much profound anguish M subsequently endured, even then. To sacrifice his conscience for the sake of academia, to witness a blameless, innocent boy, who had committed no sin and deserved no retribution, have his soul extracted while still alive... to examine that living corpse with his own hands and proudly publish the results... he realized how difficult it was to make such a resolution. Hadn't his desperate research over more than a decade since graduating from university stemmed from a single-minded desire to forget such pangs of conscience...? Wasn't it a manifestation of the same tragic psychology as polishing a guillotine blade with single-minded devotion to forget the pain of being a witness to an execution? And what was the fundamental assertion of the dissertation he submitted to his alma mater to decisively abandon his academic research... his 'guillotine blade polishing'... It stated: 'The brain is not where thoughts occur...'

"..............."

"...Thus, M's personal anguish finally succumbed to his academic research drive. He regained his initial fervor, forgetting everything else and blindly pushing forward, determined to break through the 'dark age of madness' spanning the entire world and the 'madman's hell' rampant within it, using the power of his theories. He was now able to count I's age on his fingers, likely with a calmness and cruelty that rivaled W's."

"..............."

“T-ko’s fate hangs by a thread. …By that time, T-ko must have deeply pondered what the romantic love between W and M, once centered around her, truly meant. There was no longer any doubt that the passion the two had for her at that time was based solely on the magic of the picture scroll and the charm of her own body, and nothing else. And she was too deeply convinced that the one who stole the picture scroll must have been either M, who had learned its location from her, or W, who must have harbored resentment from his heartbreak. …At the same time, knowing that both of them, together, were opponents too terrifying for a delicate woman to confront, she must have desperately hugged her child, trembling.”

“…Therefore, if, by any chance, the practical test of the picture scroll’s magic, which T-ko, despite her doubts, must have envisioned in the deepest recesses of her imagination, were to be carried out on I, T-ko would immediately recall two names. W or M…”

“…Therefore… T-ko’s death is the absolutely necessary first condition for the preparation of this unprecedented academic experiment…”

“Oh… Professor, wait… Please stop… Such a terrifying… thing…”

I involuntarily shrieked. Collapsing onto the large desk, my head felt boiling hot, my forehead icy cold, and my palms like fire, as I stifled my gasps.

“What are you saying? I’m explaining because you asked questions, aren’t I?”

Dr. Masaki’s voice, full of strength, descended upon me from above. However, it quickly changed its tone, becoming more admonishing.

"What good will it do to be so faint-hearted? How can you promise to listen to a grave secret about the ups and downs of a person's life, let me speak, and then halfway through say, 'That's enough,' for no reason? Consider my position, actually fighting this case... empathize with my suffering, having overcome all unfavorable circumstances... there are still terrible things awaiting... from now on..."

"..............."

"...Listen... T-ko must have, to some extent, sensed the existence of the primary condition of this case. The fact that she told me, 'If I'm safe until you graduate from university, I'll tell you everything,' is proof that T-ko thought of me and, after much consideration, finally went that far. In other words, T-ko's life during that time must have been truly life-threatening. On one hand, she had to keep I away from this curse and wait without saying anything until I himself could understand and be wary of the curse's true nature. And on the other hand, she had to secretly search for M's whereabouts and ascertain the existence of the picture scroll. Otherwise, she must have wanted to resolve the terrible conflict between academic research desire and love, wanting to connect W and M through her own power and ingenuity and make them reveal everything. If possible, all sorts of tragic maternal love, wanting to destroy the picture scroll with her own hands, must have been swirling in her mind."

“...However, both of T-ko's former lovers were twenty-year-long... no, fated enemies. They were personal enemies in the world of human emotions and academic rivals in the academic world. And with T-ko and her child caught in the middle, as a result of cursing each other, both had become irredeemable academic demons. ...They had no other way to live but to mentally devour each other. ...Moreover, combining the active and passive forces of their hearts, which cursed their enemy, they were sharpening their claws and fangs with single-minded devotion to test the magical power of the picture scroll on I, who was supposed to be the child of one of them, to claim the honor of publicly announcing the results to the academic world, and at the same time, to push the inhumane guilt onto the other. Whose child the sacrifice was no longer mattered. They simply thought that as long as the child was definitely a boy with the Wu family's blood, it would be perfect for academic research.”

This time, an unbearable shiver ran through my entire body. I clutched my head firmly and collapsed onto the green baize. Dr. Masaki's sorrowful voice... every single word, sharp as a scalpel, threatened my entire nervous system.

“...The result finally came. It settled where M had predicted twenty years ago. He was forced to return to that terrifying starting point, which M had feared, trembled at, and struggled to escape from, by a devilish irresistible force. Twenty years ago, his graduation thesis, 'The Fetus's Dream,' which had driven him away, had surely pulled him back to his original place with the invisible power of fate.”

I wanted to jump out of my chair and flee the room. However, my body was strangely glued to the chair, and I simply continued to tremble. I couldn't even cover my ears. Into my ears, Dr. Masaki's hoarse voice clearly entered, sentence by sentence.

"......Thus, the first obstacle concerning the progress of this experiment......T-ko's life was completely eliminated. T-ko, the sole witness connecting the pasts of W, M, and I......who could accurately testify whose child I was, and at the same time, could instantly identify the perpetrator of this terrifying scientific experiment as a 'living witness,' was buried in a complete labyrinth as planned. The next problem was the second condition necessary for this experiment......that is......for M to sit in the professor's chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Kyushu Imperial University School of Medicine. In other words, this was an absolutely perfect, extremely cautious, indispensable condition, not only to hide the whereabouts of the culprit in the event that the incident might be pursued as a result of this experiment......to completely protect each other's secrets and ensure absolute safety......but also to find an opportune moment to pin the crime on the other party."