"This is Kurôzu-Cho, where I grew up. I would like to share with you the strange events that took place here." -The opening narration of the manga, spoken by Kirie Goshima
The Spiral Obsession: Part 1 is the first chapter of the Uzumaki manga and is a part of the first volume.
Summary[]
Kirie Goshima is a high school student in the town of Kurôzu-Cho. She slowly makes her way down the mountain where her high school is located, but soon begins to rush when she realizes she might be late meeting her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito, at the train station. As she runs she briefly crosses paths with a whirlwind but is left unscathed by the encounter and continues on her way. As she walks into town she passes by an alleyway and sees Shuichi's father, Mr. Saito, crouched down and staring at something on the alley wall. Kirie approaches cautiously and finds Mr. Saito staring at the spiral of an empty snail shell. While thinking the behavior strange, she moves on quickly and goes to wait for Shuichi at the train station.
Shuichi suggests he and Kirie run away together
Shuichi used to be classmates with Kirie but now goes to the high school in the next town over. Kirie greets Shuichi happily and the two start walking through town together. Kirie relates to Shuichi the incident in the alley, but quickly adds it might not have been his father as the alley was dark. Shuichi, however, knows that it was indeed his father, explaining that Mr. Saito has been acting strange lately. The two stop to talk at a park where Kirie notices that Shuichi seems depressed. It's then Shuichi tells her that they should run away from the town together, explaining how he senses something wrong with the town and feels dizzy every time he gets off at the station platform. Kirie replies that she doesn't feel it when the five o'clock siren rings out throughout town. While Kirie is unaffected by it Shuichi covers his ears with his hands saying the sound "...just pierces through my ears!" Kirie then says she has to head home, and Shuichi accompanies her.
As they head to Kirie's home they see The Black Lighthouse in the distance and Kirie shares her disdain for the gloomy sea. Shuichi says that the sea in Midoriyama-Shu, where he goes to school, looks nothing like the sea in Kurôzu-Cho, and says The Black Lighthouse by the sea is evil. Shuichi says the looming mountains and winding streets also get on his nerves, and declares that the town is contaminated by spirals. Kirie asks what he just said, but Shuichi brushes off the question and leaves her.
The next day Mr. Saito visits Kirie's father, Yasuo Goshima at his work. Mr. Saito expresses admiration for the hard work he puts into making his ceramics, and says that it's truly "the art of the spiral". Mr. Goshima thinks he's referring to the spinning wheel and laughs the comment off. Mr. Saito enthusiastically asks for Mr. Goshima to make him a bowl with a black spiral pattern, saying that he's come love the spiral pattern, and collects everything that has a spiral on it. He says he will pay any price for one, stating with wide eyes that he finds the spiral to be mystical, filling him with a sense of mystery that no other shape does. Mr. Saito says that surely Mr. Goshima will understand how wonderful the spiral is, and that only he can create such lovely art. Meanwhil,e Kirie and her younger brother Mitsuo Goshima witness the exchange in silence.
Mr. Saito stirs his miso soup to create a spiral
A day later Shuichi and Kirie sit together at a garden. Shuichi asks if his father visited hers yesterday, and she tells him that he did and "..it freaked me out a little." Shuichi apologizes for Mr. Saito's behavior, saying he's been acting peculiar lately. Kirie questions Mr. Saito's obsession with spirals, but soon adds that it isn't that strange, saying there are people who collect more unusual things. Shuichi, however, says that she doesn't understand just how abnormal Mr. Saito's obsession has become, saying that he's stopped going to work, and spends all day in his study staring at his collection of spirals. Once fixated upon a spiral, Mr. Saito can't hear anyone, he simply stares into the spiral while his eyes spin around following the pattern. Kirie suggests that perhaps his father is simply trying to get him to laugh, but Shuichi says that it isn't funny, and that his father's eyes move independently of each other. Shuichi then recalls an incident in which his father became enraged at Shuichi's mother, Yukie Saito, when there weren't spiral patterned fish cakes in his miso soup, so Mr. Saito stared to stir the miso soup fast to create a spiral. He also stirs a whirlpool every time before he bathes. Kirie begins to laugh and Shuichi says defeated that she doesn't believe him, but that he doesn't blame her, for he wouldn't believe it either. Shuichi asks her to come over to his house so she can see for herself, and maybe then she'll hate Kurôzu-Cho as much as he does.
They begin walking to Shuichi's house and briefly catch sight of a whirl wind. Kirie asks why she would hate this town, and Shuichi says that he believes the town is the reason why his father has become strange. As they pass by a stream Shuichi points out the whirlpools in it, Kirie says that it could simply be due to the flow, and while Shuichi admits that it a possibility, but says he doesn't see that many whirpools in Midoriyama-Shu. He also points out all the whirlwinds in town, and Kirie asks him what that has to do with Mr. Saito's obsession with spirals. Shuichi replies that he's not sure and the two continue walking to Shuichi's home. As they approach the door they hear shouting from within, and rush in to find Mr. Saito in a rage attacking Mrs. Saito. Shuichi immediately leaps into action and steps in front of his mother demanding that his father stop. Mr. Saito says in a rage that Mrs. Saito threw away his collection of spirals while he was out, and she tells him that she had to get rid of the spirals so that he can wake up and go back to work. Mr. Saito breaths heavily, before declaring loudly that he doesn't need to collect spirals anymore and that he can make spirals himself, telling them in a rage that he'll show them, that one can express the spiral through the body. He demonstrates by removing his glasses and spinning his eyes around separately, unnerving Kirie.
For several days after Shuichi says nothing of his father. Mr. Goshima asks for Kirie to deliver the spiral bowl Mr. Saito had asked for, and walks to the Saito household. She delivers the bowl to Mr. Saito, but he says he no longer needs it, saying that he can call the spiral from within himself. He says that he can do it now, and his tongue, large and lizard like, frees itself from his mouth and creates a spiral shape. Kirie screams in fright, dropping the package and running away quickly. Another delivery arrives for Mr. Saito and he says that he's been waiting for it.
Shuichi and Kirie look up to the sky
Several days later Shuichi and Kirie are attending Mr. Saito's funeral. Kirie like the other townspeople believe that Mr. Saito died falling down the stairs, but Shuichi explains to her what really happened. Shuichi and Mrs. Saito had gone to consult a doctor and they agreed that Mr. Saito should be hospitalized. They came home later night and searched the house unable to find him. They found a large tub in his study that hadn't been there previously, and Shuichi opened it. Inside was the corpse of Mr. Saito, twisted and deformed into the shape of a spiral. Shuichi though uncertain of exactly what happened knew that Mr. Saito had put himself into the tub, crushing his bones to make himself into a spiral.
There's a commotion behind Shuichi and Kirie as people point out that there's something in the sky, and they look up to see what it could be.
Trivia[]
- The chapter includes numerous foreshadowing for later events in the story, including featuring the whirlwind that attacks Kirie Goshima, and showing The Black Lighthouse which Shuichi Saito accurately describes as evil.