Shiki: Volume 2

by Fuyumi Ono

  It couldn't be, Seishin tried to answer but couldn't. He merely shook his head.

  "Junior Monk, what is it? Have I not been hearing various talks of the Junior Monk going out amongst the people to talk with them? Is that---"

  "Sadaichi-san," Seishin spoke over him. "I am not able to answer. If you must know, please ask Toshio directly."

  Sadaichi kept silent and looked fixedly at Seishin's face.

  "....Soon now here, may I call together a ward headman's meeting, I wonder?"

  "Before that, one with the village three," Seishin said, to which Sadaichi nodded. Silent and greatly troubled, he let out a deep sigh.

  Seishin saw Sadaichi off, left Mitsuo in charge while he was out and left the temple. He went straight towards Naka-Sotoba, visiting old man Koike. Old man Koike sat alone in the middle of a wide house, his back hunched in despondency.

  "Koike-san."

  Noticing Seishin when he called out to him from the veranda, Koike gave a tiny nod of salutation. It seemed he knew what Seishin had come for.

  "Uhm---I heard from Sadaichi-san."

  "Anyways, come on in."

  Seishin bowed formally and came in to the living room. Koike was seated, gesturing only with his gaze, as expected not very prone to moving about as if the energy had been taken from him.

  "Your son and his family have gone missing?"

  Koike nodded deeply. "Honestly... I can't imagine what they're thinking."

  "They really have left?"

  "Seems so. One of the neighbors saw them piling luggage into a truck after all."

  "Yasuo-san stated nothing of his intent?"

  Koike shook his head. "No proclamation, nothing left written. When I contacted his work a bit ago, he went and quit three days ago."

  He quit, Seishin repeated. Koike's son Yasuo was, if he recalled, employed at NTT in Mizobe.

  "Seems he didn't give a reason for quitting. It's a shock. My son, you know, he quit his job without a word to me and took off with his family, I'm pathetic, I'm hurt..." Koike said rubbing at his eyes with the palm of his hand.

  "Uhm.... Before hand was there something, had he not said anything like that? Pardon me for asking but was there a dispute of any sort?"

  Nothing, Koike said as if casting it out. "When I came back last night, the house was all dark. Anyone and everyone wouldn't be asleep at that hour, these days my granddaughter is quite the night owl, you see. And then, I thought something happened. Thought maybe my grandson had gotten sick, or." Koike's mouth warped in self derision. "When it comes to the child, you know, he'd been sick since the day before yesterday. He was dizzy when he stood up, sat down right after getting out of the bath. We were letting him sleep."

  Seishin watched Koike's trembling mouth in shock.

  "Yasuo was in a daze like too, and his wife seemed to be slipping in energy too. With my grandson like that on top of it, the older grandchild looked pale faced, I thought the family had all caught a cold together. ....And I thought that when it wasn't nothing of the sort, they were hiding something in their hearts, just holding something silently in. I can't tell if they felt guilty towards me or held a grudge towards me."

  "....Koike-san."

  Koike shook his head without meaning. "I didn't think about any of that, when I saw the lights of the house were out, I thought maybe the youngest child was sick and they took him to the hospital, you know. When they get scared, they'd take him..."

  "Please wait a moment. Koike-san."

  Seishin leaned forward towards Koike. "He was ill? The youngest child--he was Ikuo-kun, wasn't he? If I recall."

  "Yes."

  "Ikuo-kun, what condition was he in? Did he have a fever?"

  No, Koike blinked with depression-sunken eyes. "It didn't seem like he had a fever, did it? Cerebral anemia, they said that was probably what it was. He was a thin boy to start with, he was prone to anemia, low blood pressure, things like that. His face was pure white like paper, but there was no fever."

  "Did he have a headache, or nausea or...?"

  "No. He didn't especially say anything about that."

  "This was the day before yesterday?"

  "Haa."

  "How about Yasuo-san. The other people? Did it have the same feeling?"

  "The oldest child had the same feeling. Like she was in a daze. ---No, the one in a daze was Yasuo, was it? It was what you might call sluggish or what you might call sleepy. The expression was odd.. I thought maybe someone was drunk or something."

  "Please wait a moment. Who is this discussing? The oldest---Touko-chan? Or perhaps Yasuo-san?"

  Well, uhm, Koike grumbled. "I... don't right now."

  "Is it possible that everyone was in a similar state?"

  When Seishin said it, Koike returned Seishin's stare flabbergasted, murmuring that he guessed they were. "They were---that's right. Indeed, everyone was in the same way. All of them like they were in a daze, how should I put it, like there was a glaze over their eyes, it was like. They were strangely still, their eyes were. Yet it felt like they weren't looking at anything---"

  "Like they were possessed...?"

  "That's right, like that."

  "That was from the day before yesterday?"

  "The day before yesterday---wasn't it? Or was it the day before that. Either way, it was about them."

  "That is around the same time that Yasuo-san had quit, isn't it?"

  "Yes, that's right. It would come out to that, wouldn't it?"

  It can't be, Seishin thought. If it were the case, an entire family would have an outbreak, would it not? It was too similar to the disease's preliminary symptoms. And suddenly, quitting his job, and then moving. The part about quitting his job even was just like Shimizu Ryuuji and the others. It was only what came after that was different----.

  "Did Yasuo-san and his family go out to anywhere recently? Even if it isn't outside of the village, within the village will do. For example, did they go into the mountains, or did they go to Yamairi, or...."

  "No, not in particular..."

  "Then, did they visit somebody, did somebody come to visit them, anything like that?"

  "I don't think they saw anyone in particular either," Koike said and then continued as if remembering. "Come to think of it, his wife said she had met the master of Kanemasa."

  Seishin's brows furrowed. "Kirishiki-san----was it?"

  "Haa. At night she was going around passing out the circular notices, and on the way back she said she'd met the good sir of the Kirishiki's. She said she'd stood around talking with him for a while. When she said do come by sometimes, the wife said she would bring her daughter. Their daughter seems to be the same age as my youngest grandson. It seems they said that, but since then I haven't heard any talk about them coming, huh?"

  "Is that right...."

  Was there some kind of incident, or were they bitten by any bugs, even something as small as that, he had said to him but Koike didn't seem to be able to remember anything especially worth mention. For the time being he comforted him, then Seishin took leave of Koike's house. On the way back, he passed by the front of the Ozaki clinic and stopped his car.

  Whether this should be conveyed to Toshio or not---Seishin was wavering, a bit. Toshio was tired. Impatient over the grave state of affairs, he was gasping under the emotional pessure. In truth, Toshio wouldn't see Seishin's spare time spent on the movers as anything other than a waste of time. He understood his feelings. His irritation, and his helplessness too. That was why he lingered, hesitating to give him the trouble of relaying Koike's story to him.

  But, there was a chance of a full family outbreak. Seishin couldn't ascertain if it was but if Toshio heard the story directly from Koike, he may have been able to ascertain it. Hesitating over what to do, in the end, Seishin got out of the car and went towards the clinic back yard.

  It was Sunday but the entryway was open. Seishin had head from Toshio on the phone that they were keeping it open. So he peered into the aiting room but he d
idn't catch sight of Toshio. He must have been in the middle of an examination. He worried over whether to try calling for him or not.

  For the time being he let himself into the waiting room and wrote a memo to leave behind. What to do with it---Was for Toshio to decide, wasn't it?

  Toshio saw the memo when he returned to the waiting room during his lunch break. It said that old man Koike's family moved, that Yasuo quit his job without notice, and then the whole family had been sick. That at least from what he had heard, it resembled the preliminary symptoms---.

  If you like, please listen to Koike's story, Seishin finished up but Toshio threw out the memo. That they were sick had his interest but he didn't have enough time to waste on movers. Ever since that morning when he'd been roused out of bed, his entire body felt like mud with exhaustion.

  It wasn't like he didn't care. But, he saw it as Seishin's excuse. He was trying to force a connection between the sickness and moving, like he was trying to justify his actions.

  It doesn't have to be now. ---Toshio thought that, throwing himself down on the sofa and closing his eyes.

  5

  Murasako Munetaka stopped the rice mill and stepped out of the warehouse. Munetaka's house was the only rice shop in the village. It wasn't exceptionally good nor bad business but in recent years the rice trade had completely changed. The shop couldn't help but change with it. There was also the fact that the Mizobe workers in the same trade had expanded their delivery routes, making it so that lately even on Sunday they couldn't close.

  Even so, his father Munehide was still healthy, and his wife Chizuko didn't dislike managing the shop. He was unsure when the decision was made to be open year around but when actually doing it it wasn't that much of a stressor. They still had two children on their hands, it was probably hard on Chizuko to handle along with the house work but she'd never given any complaints about this. Maybe it was in gratitude to Chizuko for that, or maybe it was just because his grandchildren were so cute, Munehide looked out for them, saying he would watch the house so take the kids out somewhere to play.

  Returning from the warehouse to the top, Chizuko came hurrying out from within as if she couldn't wait. "Honey---Hiromi doesn't seem right."

  Munetaka took off his gloves, looking to Chizuko's face. "Doesn't seem right?"

  "He's dead limp and has no energy. But, he doesn't have a fever and there are no signs of diarrhea."

  Hm, Munetaka murmured. Come to think of it at lunch time Hiromu seemed unusually calm, he thought.

  "What did Hiromi say?"

  "Nothing," Chizuko shookherhead. "I even asked if he hurt anywhere but he just looked at me blankly."

  "Guess it's a cold?"

  At Munetaka's words, Chizuko murmured in a low voice. "I wonder if Masako-kun didn't do something to him again?"

  "Chizuko." Munetaka's voice was challenging. Chizuko looked up at him sharply.

  "You always cover forhim like this but it's for sure that Masako-kun bullies Hiromi. He has strange bruises, all the time. Hiromi's threatened to keep his mouth shut. But, Chika even says so, and even Hiromi doesn't deny it."

  Munetaka sighed. "But still..."

  "Masao-kun doesn't like Hiromi. Or Chika. He just can't stand that Ojii-chan shows more interest in Hiromi and Chika."

  "The old man spoils Masao more than enough."

  "To Masao-kun, it's not enough. Until he had grandchildren, all of Ojii-chan's attention went to Masao!"

  Munetaka half believed half doubted. Munetaka always said that his old man Munehide was soft on Masao but even Munetaka thought he himself was soft on him. He wasn't a child anymore but he treated Masao like a child who still needed his protection.

  All the same, Chizuko said biting her lip. The be honest, Chizuko didn't get along well with Masao. It was something Chizuko herself was self-conscious of.

  Chizuko was drawn to Munetaka's bright, undistorted disposition and married him. From that same Chizuru's point of view, Masao was dark and overly distorted. He was always rolling his eyes at people, and due to that habit, never made to look people in the eye. He watched with eyes that seemed to be looking to catch one with their guard down, looking for ways to test people, to pick fights.

  --Dear sister-in-law, what do you like about Nii-san?

  When they decided to wed and she had met him countless times, she was asked that by Masao. When she answered that it was that he was bright and unwarped, that he was popular, an abject smile rose to Masao's face.

  ---Then, you must hate someone like me, huh? I wonder if you won't be able to stand living with me.

  He made a face as if expecting her to say 'That's not it at all.' He was waiting for the words 'I like you.' While casually holding out the threat that it'd be a hinderance towards living together if she didn't say it, Masao looked to her to be trying to extort her for kind words.

  ---I don't know yet. I don't know Masao-kun well yet, and all.

  --You'll definitely come to hate me. I'm not as well made as Nii-san and all.

  Looks like it, she resisted answering, though Chizuko didn't remember how she had answered. What she did remember was that ever since then she did come to hate Masao. All in all, Chizuko wasn't pleased with her little brother in law. It was also creepy, the eyes he made at her in the summertime or when she got out of the bath. She caught sight of him countless times fixedly staring at her undergarments she hung out to dry, and ever since, she started handling her under garments while Masao was at school.

  "Say, do you think it might be better to bring him to the hospital?"

  "That's right," said Munetaka with a seemingly troubled smile. "Let's keep an eye on him and if it seems like he really is sick, it will be better to have brought him in."

  "That's no good. If we don't go right away... Something is wrong with him. What if it's because he was hit in the head?"

  Oi, Oi, said Munetaka, eyes wide. "You're over-thinking it."

  Chizuko shook her head. "I'm scared. Haven't there been funerals going on here and there lately? It might be my imagination but I'm still very uneasy!"

  "Well, there are indeed a lot of funerals lately." Munetaka's expression clouded. "But still that's got nothing to do with Hiromi does it? You can't think like that?"

  Chizuko once again shook her head and Munetaka said all right. "Then, first thing tomorrow---"

  "Can't we go now? The Ozaki Clinic is open on Sundays these days too."

  "Heh. ---We could still make it in time, huh. Let's take him now. If it's nothing, Chizuko'll be more relaxed, too, huh?"

  "Thank you."

  Keeping Chika at her side, Chizuko changed the unenergetic Hiromi's clothing quickly. Taking Hiromi's hand, they got into Munetaka's car as Masao was returning.

  "Heh, you're going out."

  "Hiromi's sick. We're just going to the hospital, we'll be right back." Munetaka said, a faint smile rising on Masao's face as he looked at Hiromi. "Aniki's soft on Hiromi, isn't he? Even though when I get a cold, he just says sleep it away."

  Munetaka didn't look at Masao was he got into the car.

  "Isn't it nice to be taken such good care of, Hiromi?"

  Masao peered into the back seat, and without thinking Chizuko glared at him. Masao seemed to want to say something but since the car had taken off, he kept silent.

  The Ozaki Clinic wasn't as packed as it was on a weekday. Without having to wait long he was taken into the examination room for a medical interview. Chizuko conveyed her fear to Toshio that "I was thinking it might be possible he was hit in the head."

  "Hit in the head? In what situation?"

  "No, just that that might have happened, I thought. --This boy, he's awkward and always running into things, or falling down the stairs."

  Oh, was all Toshio answered but with an expression that seemed concerned. The examination took some time. It was unusually thorough, Chizuko thought.

  "Nothing's abnormal with his head." When Toshio said this, there were no other patients left. Ther
e were only Munetaka, Chizuko and Hiromi, three people left. "But, he does have anemia." Toshio's tone was almost as if he were pronouncing that he had an incurable disease. "It's possible it's severe anemia. We'll keep an eye on how it progresses."

  Chizuko's face went blue. Munetaka's color changed likewise.

  "That's, for example, like leukemia or..."

  "At the current stage I can't say. Anyways, I'll make you an appointment so can I have you come in tomorrow too?"

  Chizuko looked to Munetaka as if asking for help. If Munetaka could do it, if it would take away Chizuko's unease, then he planned to bring him in even if only for that. He didn't think that he would have Toshio making such a face at him.