The Autopsy
–Day of December 14th–
With the bear wind raging about, the man-eating bear was with great difficult dragged the five kilometers to the Sankenbetsu Young Mens’ Hall. It was flung into the hall where it collapsed like a mountain. It was dragged the rest of the way in, witnessed by the grief-stricken families of the dead, the relatives of those injured, the frontier farmers, villagers from nearby towns, and the exterminators.
Looking at the bear, an Ainu couple said, We’re from Uryū, further inland, and I’d bet my life that this is the bear wounded there after he ate an Uryū woman! He oughta have a bullet and something left of the red underclothes the girl was wearing in ‘im!”
Some of the matagi hunters who had gathered in the area had more to say. “This is the bastard just ate a girl up in Asahikawa. I’d swear you’ll find some peach-colored gaiters!”
And Yamamoto Heikichi, who had shot the bear down, said: “It’s unmistakable! This is the bear that ate a woman in Kawabuchi! A few days ago three Ainu chased him out of the area, and he must have fled here.” Unsure whether these accounts could be trusted, those gathered awaited the autopsy.
At last the investigation began. It was six days earlier that the bear had devoured Mayu, yet in its stomach was one of the pink gaiters she loved to wear. Some of her hair, coiled about it, was retrieved. In addition there were scraps of red undergarments and a peach-colored gaiter. A rather old-looking bullet was pulled from the beast’s right leg.
With more and more of the predicted items pulled from the bear, those gathered in the hall were stunned into silence. Then for a brief period sobbing and lamentation erupted in the cramped space.
The recovered relics were all soaked in alcohol so that they could be preserved, but interviews with those present failed to discover what happened to them.
The beast’s pelt was stretched onto a wooden frame, and for a long time it was hung in front of the hall to dry in the sun. Many came to look at it. It was such a sight that it attracted visitors as far away as Asahikawa, Rumoi, and Wakkanai. Though the pelt, ratty and covered in battle scars, was of poor quality, it was 3.6 meters long and 2.7 meters like. Which is to say, rather big. Having to beat the pelt with a stick was a punishment reserved for the most severe infractions.