Chapter 171 - Name and Reality 94 {122 Alone} (293–294: The Upbringing of Kuwano Kinya and Onodera Michitoshi 2)
"It is true that we have investigated a great deal about you and Kuwano-san, but we need to 'cross-check' our findings, and the reality is that there are still many things we don't understand. Our desire to hear the story directly from you remains unchanged."
Nishida stated this firmly.
"If you boys are going that far, I have no objection whatsoever to speaking in detail."
The big-shot politician showed a composure "typical" of his status for once. Then, he immediately began speaking.
"Then, let's continue from where we left off. ...Even for Kinya-chan, who had lived a life nearly close to perfection and was far from vanity until then, it's not hard to imagine, even for an ordinary person like me, that it was a massive shock. It seems he stayed at his parents' house until February of the following year, barely speaking to his family. I used to visit the Kuwano house in Taro frequently when school was out, but I even stopped doing that... Well, staying at home forever would only neglect his studies, so he finally managed to return to Sendai, but..."
As they listened to Ooshima's story, the two detectives wore solemn expressions. Thinking of those times, which were even harsher for the disabled than today, Nishida and Yoshimura could fully sympathize with Kuwano Kinya's state of mind, even though they had never met him.
"However. Whether or not a God exists is one thing, but unfortunately, I can't help but feel that absurdity certainly exists. You likely know this through the course of your investigation, but it happened on March 3rd of that year (Showa 8 = 1933). That was when the great tsunami struck the Sanriku coast, and needless to say, it struck both my and Kinya-chan's family homes... I was staying in a boarding house in the city of Ofunato to attend Ofunato Middle School, but since it was on relatively high ground, I had a narrow escape without being swallowed by the tsunami. Since it was the middle of the night, many people were late to escape... But as you know, the family home in Ryori was completely destroyed, and I was the only survivor among the Onodera relatives. And Kinya-chan, who was in Sendai, was safe himself, but he lost his family home in Taro and his entire clan, including his family..."
Having finished saying that much, Ooshima seemed to lose his words for a while, perhaps reflecting on his feelings at the time. Nishida and the others did not urge him, but after a minute or so, he cleared his throat and opened his heavy mouth.
"It was about a week after the tsunami, I believe, when Kinya-chan came to Ryori to check on things... As soon as he found me, he asked about the family's safety. When I told him the situation while crying, he held me and cried with me. I still can't forget it. I was just a child after all, and having returned from Ofunato to Ryori only to witness 그 devastation, I was at a loss as to what to do from then on."
Ooshima said this and then fell silent again, choked up.
Needless to say, the two detectives facing him could not rush Ooshima either, and simply waited in silence for him to resume the story. He kept his eyes closed for a while as if recalling those days... or rather, as if things he didn't want to remember were being forced back to him, but then he slowly opened them.
"...I also heard from Kinya-chan that he too had lost his family and all his relatives in Taro and the surrounding area. All that remained of his home was a hanten (T/N: a short winter coat) belonging to the Kuwano family's head fisherman or the seasonal laborers, which had been caught on a nearby tree. And finally, we realized that we, the cousins, were the only ones left in this world from both our families... Or perhaps I should say we were forced to realize the reality of being left behind... Above all, at this rate, it would be economically impossible for both of us to attend high school and middle school respectively... No, to be precise, with Kinya-chan's level of academic ability, it might have been fully possible for him to continue his studies with a scholarship, but it was then that he confessed something unexpected to me. He said, 'Until now, I thought I had to overcome the plight of the impoverished masses only out of a sense of sympathy, but looking back, how arrogant and condescending I was... Now, having lost both my thumbs and my family home, I have finally realized for the first time how blessed I was. What I must do now is fight alongside the impoverished masses before me, as if it were my own struggle.' He even said he would quit school and do manual labor. From my perspective, he was already a disabled person, so I told him that would be impossible, but he said, 'I can't do fine hand movements, but I can manage to grip a rod. Fortunately, my grip strength was trained from helping with fishing since I was a child, and my body is sturdy, so I'll manage.' He seemed to have made a considerable resolution to throw himself into the leftist movement through actual labor. When it comes to that, he wasn't the kind of person I could talk out of it. Though I didn't think deeply about it then, normally, he was at a level where he could have graduated from the old-system middle school by skipping grades, so even if he dropped out of Second High School, there should have been jobs or teaching positions available. However, he probably thought in his own way that his finger disability, especially the appearance, would be a difficult obstacle, regardless of the actual situation... I believe that factor, other than his ideology, led to his choice to suddenly work as a laborer."
On this point, the old man Amai in Miyako, who was Kuwano's junior at Kamaishi Second Middle School, had made a similar guess. Ooshima, on the other hand, seemed to think more than Amai did that the disability might have influenced his decision. In any case, while the degree of influence of each factor remained unclear, it seemed certain that he decided to reduce himself to the manual labor class due to both his disability and his ideological leanings.
"Excuse me, but what happened to you, Onodera-san?"
Yoshimura asked, as if he could no longer wait.
"I mentioned earlier that Kinya-chan was boarding at a dry goods store in Sendai. Instead of him leaving, he went out of his way to plead for me to be taken in there as an apprentice. Of course, it helped that they had some small business dealings with my family home... Incidentally, when Kinya-chan went to Sendai for school, he had brought quite a lot of his belongings, so most of the things important to him were not washed away with his family home. Apparently, his graduation certificate from Kamaishi Second Middle School also remained. Since he left behind things he didn't need when he departed, I wasn't troubled for clothes for the time being."
He answered.
"I see. But for you yourself, was there no option at the time to return to your studies while working?"
Nishida asked just to be sure.
"Basically, I had no problems with my body, so there was the option of re-enrolling in a place like the Army Junior Regional School or the Naval Academy, where they even pay a salary, similar to today's National Defense Academy... But while I wasn't a leftist like Kinya-chan, unfortunately, I wasn't exactly a lump of patriotism either. Rather, I was the type of person who absolutely didn't want to die in a war... I felt that being an apprentice was fine enough, and at the time, I didn't feel that much charm in studying. So, in a way, there was an aspect of me being satisfied, feeling that working at the dry goods store suited my nature. Originally, I only went to the old-system middle school because I could manage it both academically and economically."
He gave a wry smile, reflecting on those days.
"What did Kuwano-san do after that?"
Yoshimura asked with great interest.
"After wandering around various places, he apparently crossed the sea to Hokkaido. There, he traveled through coal mines and civil engineering construction site hanba (T/N: Author's Note: A hanba is a lodging facility in Japan for miners or workers engaged in civil engineering or construction sites. They are located almost adjacent to the site. The tako-beya of tako-beya labor is also a type of hanba), observing with his own eyes the plight of the bottom-tier laborers. He would occasionally send me letters, so I was able to grasp the general state of the misery and problems. Then, he stopped by Sendai once when he returned to Iwate for his conscription examination. Of course, he was deemed unfit for conscription due to his fingers, but Kinya-chan, who was relatively sturdy, had become quite thin by the time he returned, so there was no doubt he had suffered considerably. However, perhaps because he had been tempered by heavy labor, although he had lost fat, he looked like a boxer with a honed, muscular physique. And from what I heard directly, the 'sites' were indeed quite difficult. I have a vivid memory of hearing then that he once got involved trying to help a comrade who was being lynched at a hanba and barely escaped with his life. He was indignant that many places had terrible working conditions. He spoke with force, saying, 'Since winning the Russo-Japanese War, Japan has behaved as a first-class nation in the international community, but looking at the current situation of poor farmers and some laborers, our country can never truly become a first-class nation at this rate. Society is clearly divided between the haves and the have-nots. We must change the current situation.'"
He answered slowly, perhaps recalling those days.
"But in coal mines or hanba, if a significant portion of both his thumbs was missing, wouldn't he have had a very hard time mastering tools?"
To Nishida's follow-up question,
"Well, he did say that pickaxes and shovels were quite hard to grip, but in the harsh labor environments of Hokkaido, there was a high turnover of people, and it seems there were situations where even someone with a disability was fine as long as they could work to some extent. Well, from what I heard, many of the hanba had environments close to tako-beya labor..."
He said that much, but then,
"You boys know what tako-beya labor is, right?"
He suddenly checked, as if the thought had just occurred to him.
"Yes. Of course we know."
Nishida replied without a moment's delay.
"I see. It seems it was an extremely harsh environment, but unfortunately, to me at the time, that severity didn't come across as clearly as his words, except for Kinya-chan's thin appearance. I suggested, 'If you're in such an unhealthy state, why don't you come back here?' but he would just go on about his usual principles and claims, like 'walking with the working class,' so there was nothing more I could say. To put it simply, he was like a sort of ascetic monk. There was no room for argument."
He answered. And at this time, Nishida and Yoshimura did not yet realize that his statement "to me at the time" would take on meaning shortly after.
"In that case, until he later worked under the gold panner named Senzaki, was it always like that?"
Yoshimura asked, trying to move the story forward.
"Yes, exactly. Come to think of it, you guys know about the deed too. You mentioned it during the last interrogation... I believe it was around Showa 12 (1937)... he was in a state of near-collapse at a hanba in northern Hokkaido when he was saved by that man named Senzaki, and from then on, he started working under him until he regained his health to some extent. After that, he left Senzaki-san's place for a while, but they happened to meet again around Showa... 14, I think, and he started working again under Senzaki-san, who was panning for gold in Ikutahara... I only heard this from Kinya-chan, so although I'm confident in my memory, it's hard to be certain about the years."
Hearing that much, Nishida wanted to ask what Kuwano thought of the person named Senzaki.
"I've heard from Isaka Masamitsu, as hearsay from his father Daikichi, that Senzaki was a very caring and personable individual. Did Kuwano-san say such things as well?"
"Yes, exactly! He always used to say, 'That man is my lifesaver.' He had no education or family, but because he had suffered, he was apparently excellent in his compassion for others. He also said things like, 'He had a bit of a foul mouth at times, but I knew well that wasn't his true heart'... He apparently got along well with his work colleagues, including Isaka, who was an enemy to me. He even wrote about such things in his letters before I started working with them in Konomai."
Including this statement, it seemed that not only Kuwano but also Senzaki was a person of considerable popularity. That is likely why he tried to divide the gold he left behind among his servants: Kuwano, Isaka, and Houjou.
"And according to the letter left by Sada Toru, the older brother of Sada Minoru, along with the deed, Senzaki died of illness, and Toru took charge of distributing the inheritance. During this time, Mende was murdered by Takamura, and then Isaka and Houjou murdered Takamura in what seems like a revenge killing—unpleasant things kept happening. Have you heard about this from Kuwano-san?"
When Yoshimura asked,
"Yes. You certainly understand that part well too... Regarding this point, I remember it being vaguely mentioned in the letters Kinya-chan sent me around the time he settled at Konomai Mine, but he told me about the series of events and how they searched for gold after I started working with him in Konomai. To be honest, Mende was loved by everyone as a younger brother figure, so although the two of them killing Takamura as punishment was absolutely unforgivable, Kinya-chan apparently had a feeling in a corner of his heart that it was 'unavoidable.' After that, it seemed like reporting it to the police would be a hassle, so they left it at that, made the deed, and decided to disperse for a while."
He recounted. On this point, the situation was almost identical to what Isaka Masamitsu had heard from Daikichi and consistent with what was recorded in Toru's letter.