The Ark Sakura by Kōbō Abe Page B

about it. His voice was cheerily off key, but it had a defiant, cutting edge. Next came the voice of the girl.
    “Ooh! It hurts,” she said, but as she was not moaning, I assumed her injuries were minor. It was a relief to know they hadn’t been killed.
    Drawn by their voices, the insect dealer took several steps forward, lost his balance and landed heavily on his rear. The beam from his penlight, which had been aimed at the floor, was swallowed up in the darkness.
    “Why haven’t you got a banister here, for crying out loud? A person could get killed.” His voice was shrill. He coughed, cleared his throat, and said in a different key, “So it is you two. How’d you sneak in here?”
    “Hey, it’s Komono!” The girl’s voice was bright. The shill must have said something to her, for she immediately started complaining again about the pain.
    “You two are worse than a pair of cockroaches,” said the insect dealer. “How’d you get past the dogs?”
    From the swaying shadows beyond the flashlight, the shill shot back, “That’s a fine hello. Let me ask you, then—who invited you to come poking your ugly face in here?”
    Plainly the three of them were well acquainted. The insect dealer hadn’t leveled with me.
    “You’re a fine one to talk,” countered the insect dealer. “I happen to know how you got your ticket—swiped it, didn’t you?”
    “Now, now—don’t talk that way. One thing just led to another. We looked all over for you, you know.”
    “Oh, you did, huh? Came all the way here to look for me, did you? That was big of you. Come off it.”
    “As long as we pay the admission fee it’s okay, isn’t it?”
    “There are certain qualifications.”
    “Who’s asking you, Komono? Butt out.”
    “Sorry, but I’ve been officially hired on by the captain here.”
    I was pleased to hear myself introduced as the captain right from the start. Was the insect dealer genuinely taking my part?
    “Captain?” said the shill. “Oh, right. He’s selling boat tickets, so he’s a captain.”
    “Correct. I am the captain.” Better take a firm stand here. “And since this is a rather special ship, crew members do need some rather special qualifications.”
    “What are Komono’s qualifications, may I ask?” The girl’s voice was tinged with sarcasm. “Ooh, it hurts… .”
    “He’s sort of a combined adviser and bodyguard, you could say. Are you in a lot of pain?”
    “My ankle is killing me.”
    The shill’s high-pitched, high-speed voice cut in: “Well, imagine that. With Komono your bodyguard, we’ll all have to stay on our toes, won’t we? But you know, Captain, if it’s a bodyguard you want, then you ought to take a look at my qualifications too. Whatever I may lack in strength I can make up for in combat experience, I assure you.”
    The girl spoke again. “Save the fighting till after the lights are on, please. What’s the matter with you, leaving me to suffer in the dark like this?”
    “The young lady does have a point; it would be nice to get the lights on,” the shill conceded. “And she does seem to have sprained her ankle.”
    The young lady, he had called her. A curious yet altogether old-fashioned and charming sort of appellation. It could have been simply a nickname, yet it bore a certain air of formality that rekindled my flickering hopes. Although for all I knew, that might be exactly how he intended for me to react. Perhaps this was more of his “fishing” gambit—a mere professional habit.
    “There’s no feeling at all in the toes,” she said. “I think I may have broken the bone.”
    “That stairway has a couple of rotten boards in it,” said the shill. “I wrenched my back too. You two had better watch out. Fall the wrong way and you’ll be lucky to get off with a fracture.”
    Very well. There was no turning back now, anyway; I might as well accede to their request and switch on the lights. The switch was on an infrared remote-control device hanging