Summer 1979
Construction worker C: “…huff…huff! ….huff! ….huff…!!!”
Construction worker B: “….Fuck! ….Shit, man, shit…!! Manager…? Manager…? C’mon, we’re not joking… Manager….?”
Construction worker A: “You asshole! Can’t you see that he’s dead already…!?”
Clang. …Everyone snapped out of it. Someone dropped his shovel that he was holding. …That shovel was dripping dark blood… Actually, blood was splattered everywhere. …The six construction workers’ clothes were all tainted in blood. One of the workers was crying out to the corpse previously known as the manager of the site.
CW B: “…Manager….! ….Manager….!!! Sob….!”
CW A: “Shut up…! The dude is dead! …C’mon man! It was fucking self-defense! Right?! Self-Defense…!!”
This whole thing started when they were yelled at by the manager for drinking beer inside the construction office. There were no smoking and no drinking signs plastered all over the place. If people didn’t follow the rules, it was inevitable that the head manager would scold them. It’s probably their fault for disobeying the rules in the first place. But they were also stressed out by the incessant protests and the hate that the villagers throw at them. …So one of them just snapped and yelled back at him to step outside. The rest also went along for the heck of it.
Being a construction worker is a stressful, low-paying blue-collar job. That’s why they instigated a fight with him to relieve some of their stress. At first, it was just a typical fist-fighting brawl. …But it suddenly began to escalate. …Actually, it was the manager who seemed to show an explosion of anger that they’ve never seen before.
…They knew that the manager must’ve been stressed out by those anti-dam protests as well. It’s fair to say that he was stressed out as much or even more than they were.
But the way his personality changed…was out of this world. The manager was cool and calm in the beginning. …Gradually, however, his actions became more aggravating…it was like seeing him transforming into a psychotic right before out their eyes!!! …They became frightened as it seemed like he was being possessed with the devil or some sort…
And then…the manager picked up the shovel lying right next to him and started a mad dash towards one of them to bash his brains out. …It was a miracle that the guy managed to move out of the way in time to not get hurt, but if he didn’t, his head would’ve been split open with the amount of force the manager put into that shovel. But the manager didn’t stop there. The manager continued to pound his shovel towards the guy as he frantically dodged the manager’s blows.
…They realized that the manager’s actions were going too far for just a brawl, so they tried to restrain him. But then, the manager turned towards them with his shovel. One of the guys tried to block the shovel as it came down on him with by crossing his arms. …But there is no way that any man could block a shovel with such a force.
Blood began to drip from the man’s arms as he cried out in pain.
The six instinctively knew that…the manager was not his usual self. The manager that they were up against right now…was a demon who would immediately try to bash their brains out without any remorse…! If they were to ward off this thing who was holding a shovel as its weapon…they also needed some kind of weapon to fend him off as well. One of the guys sub-consciously reached for a hammer nearby. …When the others saw this, they all began to take something into their hands… If they were to restrain it…they’d better arm ourselves against its weapon…!
CW B: “….It wasn’t supposed to be this way…. Oh man!!! uWaaaaaa…!”
It didn’t take that long for the madness to spread from the manager to the six construction workers. …So, it was only time for their goal to become switched from restraining him to lynching him.
When they snapped out of it, there laid a dead body formerly known as the manager… …His face was all swollen, torn shreds of skin and muscle, and one could even seen skull from his head. …Everyone knew that the manager was dead…
CW A: “Fuck, fuck this man…!! We’re the ones that were about to be killed!! If he didn’t strike at us like that in the first place, we wouldn’t have done this!! Right?!”
The leader of the six, the guy who instigated the fight, desperately tried to bring the rest to his side, but everyone else was shocked in horror and just stood there dumbfounded… The leader took the silence in frustration.
…I was the one who started the fight in the first place. The rest just joined in. …So I’m the main perpetrator.
Hence, he was feeling exasperated as he sensed that he was the one at fault.
CW A: “Snap out of it…!! Hey! What’s done is done!! We’re all fucking criminals know!! Take that reality into your guts!! The heck you guys are thinking about, huh!? Don’t tell me you guys are thinking about going to the cops, are you!? Hell no! I ain’t going to jail at this age!! We’re gonna hide it, you hear!? We’re gonna hide this body and act like we know nutthin’!!”
…Everyone here knew that this guy had some trouble with the law in the past and was on probation. So…if he got into trouble with the law again…his punishment would be more severe than they could imagine… That’s why he was making so much fuss about it to figure out away out of this mess.
…If he was the only one here with the body, he wouldn’t have made much ruckus about this. …All he had to do was to hide it himself and acted like nothing had happened. But unfortunately, there are six of them including him at this moment. There are acquaintances in this murder who could turn themselves in and become witnesses. If any one of them break down on their guilt, it is easy to foresee that the majority of the blame was to fall upon him…
CW B: “But…but, even we hid it, someone’s gonna find it sooner or later…”
CW C: “Yeah…Isn’t it better if we just turn ourselves in, explain to them that it was in self-defense…in hope that they’ll give us a lighter sentence…?”
CW A: “Fuck you all!! Can’t you see how far we did!? You think we’ll be let off with self-defense by looking at this!? We’ve fucking bashed him so much that his parents wouldn’t figure out who he is, you dumb ass!!!”
CW B: “But…even if we hid it, how are we gonna explain when he doesn’t show up for work tomorrow…? There’s no way out of this….!”
CW A: “The only way out of this is to get this shit out of your fucking head, asshole!!!”
The leader beat up the guy for being so weak-minded. …Everyone realized that the leader was beginning to turn into a demon himself…
CW A: “Listen up ladies?! We’re fucking murderers now, you hear me?! MURDERERS!! If we don’t do something, it’s five, six years in the slammer!! If one of you betrays, ALL of us are going to jail!! And don’t think ONLY five or six years is a fucking light sentence!! If you all have the guts to turn yourselves in, then have the guts to runaway until this shit passes!! You got that!!”
Even his face seemed to transform into a demon… It was like déjà vu – they all saw it happen to the manager just a while ago. They all started believing that whatever got a hold of the manager was now beginning to take over their leader…
The first thing that came across their minds was how he looked like those villagers protesting in front of the construction site. They seriously began to think about the myths of this area - Onigafuchi village, formerly a place where demons lived with humans, how they sometimes possessed the residents, etc. etc. …Up until this time, they all brushed it off as superstition. But when they see their manager and their leader turning into a demon right before their eyes, they seriously began to contemplate that the myth might be real…
When the manager turned into a demon, he wielded a shovel like a murderer. ….There’s no assurance that their leader won’t act similarly… In fact, he still had a tight grip on his hammer and gleamed his eyes towards the rest. …If anyone said anything about turning themselves in again…he would go after him and bash his head in an instant….
CW A: “….Got it. …..I figured out a way to prevent one of you from turning traitor. …Heh heh heh. It’s an excellent plan…we can securely hide the body at the same time too….”
CW C: “Uh….Okay….wh…what’s your plan…?”
CW A: “Heh heh heh…See this body here…? ….We’re gonna divide it up like friends like we are.”
CW C: “Oh…hahaha….yeah….”
Everyone wanted out of it. They’ve already committed murder. …What he’s asking for is to add corpse mutilation to the charge…
…But the atmosphere possessing their leader inhibited anyone from disagreeing. …If they did, they instinctively knew that it was their turn next…
CW A: “We’re all gonna chop it up. Remember how this old man use to say? It’s TEAMWORK. That’s right, we’re all acquaintances in this murder. And, each one of you is gonna take a piece and hide it. ….See? Just like friends, we help each other out, eh? Heh heh heh…that way, one of you guys won’t be able to turn traitor just cuz your sentence is lighter. …Heh heh heh heh heh heh!!”
CW B~F: “…..ugh…..”
The five started to sense that the demons living in Onigafuchi were starting to crawl into them behind their backs….