The Doomed Messenger
—Morning of December 10th—
Dusk comes early to the snow country in December. Come three in the afternoon, the sun had already sunk below the mountains. It was too late to pursue the bear; the day was lost. They placed the body of Tsuneo in his bedroom, and the men gathered there decided to wait for dawn at the nearby house of Miyoke Yasutarō. Though they were neighbors, there was half a kilometer between the Ōta and Miyoke houses. During the night, they spread word of the Ōta family to the Sankebetsu frontier, sending the neighborhood into an uproar. They would have to, as quickly as possible, spread information about what had happened, retrieve the body of Mayu, and deal with the bear.
The closest police outpost, nineteen kilometers away, was the Kotanbetsu outpost of the Haboro police department, and it was more than thirty kilometers to the Tomamae town hall. There was no way to get in touch with them from the outskirts. There was nothing to do but walk through the deep snow. However, nobody volunteered to be the one to leave their family behind and set off down the long road. Because of the urgency of the matter, they all agreed to draw straws. The chosen messenger was from Kawashimo, near the Ōtas: Nakagawa Magoichi.
But Nakagawa was reluctant. “Won’t somebody trade with me?” he begged Saitō Ishigorō.
“If it pains you that much, I’ll do it once I’ve gotten my wife and children to safety,” acceded the well-liked, Ishigorō, conditionally.
“Leave that to me,” Nakagawa reassured Ishigorō. “A load of matagi hunters are on their way. We’ll be in safe hands.”
At five o’clock on the morning of the tenth, Ishigorō repeatedly implored his family to leave the frontier. Take, seeing off her husband, sought refuge at the comparative safe haven of Miyoke Yasutarō’s house, nine hundred meters away, with her third and fourth sons, Iwao and Haruyoshi. It had been the intention of the Ishitarōs to take shelter in the Sankebetsu schoolhouse, known as the safest spot in these times, but because Ishitarō left in a hurry, they changed their destination at the last minute.
“My thighs are in season, bear, nice and plump!” Take rapped on her large thighs on the way to the Miyokes, laughing with her fellow wives en route.
On the other hand, Saitō Ishigorō, aware of the importance heaped on him, departed the Obata Inn in Tomamae around noon the next day and headed for Rokusensawa, where his wife and children were waiting. Soon after he reached the outskirts of Sankebetsu, he was met with the news of the tragedy visited upon his family. Saitō Ishigorō crumbled to the snowy ground, crying out until his voice failed him.