Surprised, Kizu listened as the doctor ardently talked on, his face with his rimless glasses looking down as Kizu watched him.

"I once read in the papers that Dr. Koga was involved with a religious group," the doctor said; though not looking in Kizu's direction, his reactions were precise. "But wasn't that a long time ago? We don't belong to the same academic society, but he was just a year ahead of me in university and I've known him ever since. Even now I hear news about him, but nothing about any religious group."

The doctor's next words showed he'd given this some thought and was trying to express his interest.

"That must be a very interesting religious group to make Dr. Koga quit his post in a Tokyo hospital and go live in a commune in the woods. And here you are too, participating despite your cancer."

"My case is different from Dr. Koga's," Kizu said hurriedly. "At any rate, this will be the last job of my life. Besides, I'm sort of a lukewarm par- ticipant-I don't even know much about the doctrines of the church."

"I'm not about to ask anything personal about the church," the doctor said, and looked down again as before, "but being with Dr. Koga is a definite plus for you. I haven't received the medical records yet from the hospital in New Jersey-we'll take care of that later-but for now I'll collect all the records I do have and hand them over to Dr. Koga. I'll write a letter to him, too, outlining the plan we discussed for administering morphine."

The thought suddenly came to Kizu that if he were to choose an adviser for Ikuo after his death this doctor would make a fine choice, and he realized he'd never considered who he could trust to be Ikuo's counselor after he was gone, a sure sign that he was trying to avoid thinking about his approaching inevitable demise.

The doctor half turned away from Kizu, who was sitting on a stool, and began writing a letter at his plain desk. After gathering together the docu- merits he'd mentioned-Kizu's health record he'd brought from America, plus copies of the charts of his last examination-the doctor was no doubt writing a letter to Dr. Koga. This straightforward way of taking care of busi- ness forced Kizu to reflect on his own vague attitude toward life despite the short time left to him.

The doctor put the letter inside a plain business envelope printed with the name of the clinic and passed this, along with a larger envelope of medi- cal records, over to Kizu.

"You tend to downplay the value of things you do, but I'm very inter- ested to see people like you and Dr. Koga working on a joint project. It's quite refreshing, since intellectuals of your caliber in Japan very rarely do joint work outside their own fields."

"I don't know Dr. Koga very well," Kizu said, "but I know that through the events of ten years ago, and even now, he's a fanatically confident follower.

But as I said, I'm lukewarm about this idea. The only reason I'm moving to Shikoku is because the young man I like is going there. I can't believe it my- self sometimes that I'm doing such a bizarre thing in my condition."

"No, I'm sure you gave it a lot of thought before you decided."

The doctor smiled for the first time that day-albeit a weak smile- and saw Kizu out. Afterward, as Kizu was waiting in line one floor below to pay his bill, the doctor passed right by him on his way to the staff bathroom, his face looking unexpectedly old and worried.

16: THE CLINICIAN

1

Ikuo delivered the letter and records to Dr. Koga's clinic right away.

Kizu had wanted to go over to say hello personally, but Dr. Koga was busy tying up loose ends before their move to Shikoku. Ikuo relayed a message from the doctor that he couldn't spare the time right now and would see Kizu later; holding out hope because he'd said later, Ikuo took it upon himself to see that things proceeded in that direction.

Dr. Koga had been raised in an area behind the Tokyo University Hos- pital, where his father worked, and the only traveling he'd ever done before now was plane trips to academic conferences in the Kansai region, Kyushu, and points in between. The village they were heading to in Shikoku had a clinic but no regular doctor; since he would be taking charge of the facilities, Dr. Koga had already gone there once to consult about the clinic. Since that trip was by plane, from Haneda airport to Matsuyama, when it came time to move to Shikoku he said he hoped they could make the whole trip by train.

After many years in America, and knowing he wouldn't have another chance to travel by train across Japan, Kizu also thought it would be nice to see scenery different from that in which he'd been raised as he journeyed to the site of his final abode. Ikuo picked up on this idea and arranged for Dr. Koga and Kizu to travel by train, accompanied by himself and a former member of the Izu Research Institute. They were to leave Tokyo a little before 11 A.M. on the Nozomi bullet train. Something over three hours later, they would arrive in Okayama, where they'd change to the Shiokaze; from there they'd cross over to Shikoku on the Seto Bridge and take the Yosan Line, arriving in Matsuyama after 5 P.M. At the JR train station in Matsuyama they'd meet up with Patron, who was traveling by plane, and the church members coming by minivan, and then everyone would head by car to the forest.

When Ikuo reminded him that the train trip alone would take six hours, Kizu was surprised not by the length but by how short it was. fust to get from his college town in New Jersey up to Boston sometimes took just as long, if you had a bad connection. But Kizu was a bit on edge, worrying about all the time he'd be spending together with Dr. Koga, whom he barely knew. Aware of this, Ikuo bought two sets of Green Car luxury tickets for seats apart from each other. Kizu and Dr. Koga would each have window seats, with Ikuo sitting beside Kizu and the former Izu researcher beside Dr. Koga.

Most of their luggage was being sent by rented truck, so Kizu and Dr. Koga were able to travel light, with one bag each. For their part, their seat mates had taken on the task of transporting the vacuum tube amplifier that Patron had been using for years and the video equipment of Ms. Asuka, who would be joining them in Shikoku sometime later.

While Kizu searched for the right train car, Ikuo and a man in his mid- thirties were at the front of the platform loading two crates as large as the steamer trunks foreigners travel with. By the time Kizu boarded, the two crates were already stowed aboard. Ikuo introduced the older man as Mr. Hanawa. The latter merely bowed his head in greeting and sat down, leaving the window seat open for Dr. Koga, who had yet to appear, and began reading a book in a foreign language with all sorts of formulas in it.

Three minutes before the train was to pull out of the station, Dr. Koga appeared at the front entrance of the car and strode toward them with the same firm steps he'd shown at the memorial service. Four or five rows ahead of Kizu, Dr. Koga came to a halt where Mr. Hanawa was reading and, hunt- ing cap still on his head, greeted him enthusiastically and swung his bag onto the overhead rack. He removed his duffel coat, which was made of the same deerskin pattern as his cap, and, now in a blue long-sleeve shirt, settled down in the window seat. As Kizu watched him from behind, he worried that, like any city dweller concerned about the weather in the kind of backwoods area they were headed, perhaps Dr. Koga had brought an overly heavy coat.

Kizu was impressed by the no-nonsense way Dr. Koga didn't try to lo- cate his other traveling companions in the flurry just before the train was to leave. Just before he put his suitcase in the overhead rack, Dr. Koga had taken out a thick book that he was now engrossed in; Mr. Hanawa didn't speak to him, and neither did Ikuo stand up to walk over and say hello. Even so, it was clear that Ikuo and Mr. Hanawa were attentive to their duties as escorts.