The Witch, also titled Madonna, is the second story in The Liminal Zone.
Plot[]
Mari Amano has transferred to Tensei School, a strict Catholic boarding school for girls. Her friend Lisa notices that the headmaster, Yukiro Tenjo, has been watching Mari closely. Mari wonders if he's attracted to her, and worries about what his wife Misuzu would think. Misuzu is a domineering, vicious woman who exerts rigid control over the school. The girls secretly call her "The Witch."
Misuzu forces Mari and Lisa to kneel in front of a cross for hours as penance for talking during a worship service. Lisa explains that Misuzu used to be kind and beautiful, but changed dramatically because of her husband's constant cheating. Tenjo has had affairs with numerous women, including Ms. Kiyokawa, one of the current teachers at the school. Misuzu was initially one of his many girlfriends, and they married after his first wife Haruyo mysteriously disappeared.
Lisa complains of feeling strange, and Mari realizes that there's salt coming from Lisa's ears. There are pillars of salt around the school grounds, and Mari witnesses a girl named Akemi eating the salt - one of many examples of staff and students acting strangely. Tenjo gives Mari a tour of the school and tells her that both Haruyo, and later their adult son, disappeared. He insists Mari attend an invitation-only worship service devoted to St. Mary.
Mari feels uncomfortable at the service because Catholics are supposed to revere Mary, but do not grant her the same respect afforded to God. Tenjo decides that Mari should join Ms. Kiyokawa's "elite class", and Mari moves to a new dorm with Akemi as her roommate. She becomes aware that Akemi, Ms. Kiyokawa, and all the girls in the elite class have salt coming from their ears just like Lisa.
Tenjo summons Mari to the school's chapel and tells her that he must perform a ritual to confer the blessing of St. Mary upon her. Mari asks about the salt, and he says it is a sign of the afflicted girls' piety. He recounts the Biblical story of Lot, whose wife was turned into a pillar of salt because of her lack of faith. Tenjo says it is his duty to find and marry the reincarnation of St. Mary. He initially thought each of his wives was Mary, but they became corrupted, and now he believes Mari is the reborn Mary. He tries to kiss her, only for Misuzu to arrive in the chapel.
Tenjo drags Mari to hide, and then leaves her there. Misuzu prays to the statue of St. Mary. Her husband told her she was Mary's reincarnation, but she was unable to have a child, causing her to question her faith. She and the statue both begin crying tears of blood. Misuzu becomes aware that someone is watching her, and chases after Mari. Mari escapes into the school grounds, where she encounters a cross surrounded by many pillars of salt. Another mound of salt is tied to the statue in imitation of the crucified Christ.
The following day, as the school gathers to worship, Misuzu announces there is a spy among the girls. None of them confesses, so she decides Akemi is the culprit; and magically turns her into salt. Misuzu says that several of those in the school have already had their brains turned to salt as punishment for angering her, and Mari realizes this is what happened to Akemi, Lisa, and the others. The terrified Mari attempts to explain that Tenjo brought her to the chapel to receive St. Mary's blessing.
Misuzu confronts Tenjo. He gave her the same blessing and told her she was the true Mary, so she helped him murder Haruyo. Ms. Kiyokawa reveals Tenjo told her she was Mary, and she is now pregnant, believing the child to be the second coming of Jesus. Tenjo says he was wrong and it's Mari who is the reincarnation of St. Mary.
Misuzu becomes enraged and says that if she were not Mary, she wouldn't have powers. Lightning hits the building, and the statue of St. Mary shatters, revealing that it contains Haruyo's corpse. Tenjo says he decided Haruyo should be punished for her sins by standing upright for all eternity, like Lot's wife. Misuzu is humiliated that she's been praying to the corpse the whole time. She screams in fury and changes all the girls in the school into salt.
Tenjo escapes with Mari, and they see that the lightning strike has set the school ablaze. Tenjo takes her to the cross outside the school and and explains that all the pillars of salt around the cross are victims of Misuzu. She even turned his son into salt, but Tenjo didn't care - Haruyo was not the real Mary, therefore their son wasn't Jesus, and Tenjo displayed him on the cross to represent a false Christ. Tenjo says that the real Christ has yet to be born. He demands that Mari marry him and conceive the reincarnation of Christ.
Misuzu arrives and changes Tenjo into salt too. She tries to do the same to Mari. Mari reaches toward the cross, which collapses, impaling Misuzu through the heart. Mari escapes the burning school but no one ever believes her story of what happened.