by Fuyumi Ono
If going in the order of the outbreak, the first to contract it were the three in Yamairi. If one believed Mieko's talk of catching it from Gigorou, then Ohkawa Gigorou would be thought of as the first. The estimation of when he would have contracted it was right around the middle of July. If at that time, Gigorou or the others had gone out some place, that place could be thought of as being infected. ----That this could be told quickly by asking the bereaved families was something that Seishin was, at first, optimistic about. So he was, but the conversations weren't so simple.
Murasako Hidemasa had lost his wife, his sister, and his nephew, a total of three people. Indeed there weren't any close relatives remaining in the village. But fortunately, as the three had their funeral services performed by the temple, the contact addresses of the Murasako household were left with them. As they were living in Yamairi, he tried to contact any relatives living in the communities below, or any old people who had been close to them, but the results were futile. Nobody knew what the Murasako couple had been doing lately.
The Murasako family children hadn't by any means cut off ties with their parents but in the end their parents were a part of themselves that they had left behind in Sotoba. They hadn't forgotten them, they weren't estranged, and they certainly hadn't lost their love for them, but they had their own lives. Long ago, they would have returned for Obon and rekindled their connections but with small children there were studies and lessons, reasons not to want to go far from home, and when children were at a more independent age, they then became the ones at home waiting to welcome those children to their own homecoming. As a result, their parents deserted in the country were looked back upon less and less.
"If they had even been in bad health, though," said Hidemasa's daughter. "I was worried myself, I did peek in on how they were doing, don't you know. Overall the two were healthy, after all. I thought myself I didn't need to worry and, how to put it---I just forgot. I just didn't worry about it anymore."
She harbored a secret regret of not contacting that but in this case, that it wouldn't have helped at all was true.
At any rate, as far as attempting to make contact in regards to the Murasakos, Seishin was---at least in regards to kith and kin---left with no choice but to accept that it would be near impossible to gather information. Never mind being able to ask the questions that would clarify the circumstances, there was a limit to how much he could ask even with a made-up pretense to dress it up under.
That left Ohkawa Gigorou, but... Seishin thought as he drove towards the village road. At least Ohkawa Gigorou had a nephew left in the village. The Ohkawa Liquor Shop's Ohkawa Tomio was that nephew. Under the guise of buying something on an errand, Seishin visited the Ohkawa Liquor Shop.
In the course of conversation, touching upon Gigorou's death, you must dearly miss him, Seishin said trying to direct the talk with Ohkawa.
"Naw, naw," said Ohkawa, his face a mingling of a smile and a grimace as he waved his hand. "He was already at that age, that old man was."
"None the less, were you not surprised?"
"If you're asking about surprises, that was sure a surprise. My old man's older brother suddenly died, and I was told by the police, after all. On top of that, I I try to go up to have a look and he's so rotted he's falling apart, and he's been strewn all over. Well, to say it's not something you get to experience often's sure enough."
That is true, Seishin nodded. "When was the final time that you had been able to meet with Gigorou-san?"
When was that, Ohkawa said tilting his head as he wrapped the bottle of sake. "It's not like we saw each other that much you know? I'm just gonna put it out there, he wasn't exactly a jolly old man, if there was nothing I needed I didn't feel like seeing him. The old man didn't by no means talk to us much either, when you think, huh he's calling us, it was to say I'm going out so give me your car or pick with up for me, or to say to do this or that for him," Ohkawa said, mouth forming into a pointed frown. "I'm his nephew, I'd think it'd be normal to ask how to make it convenient for me at least. If he stopped into the store unexpectedly once in a while, even if he got something, he didn't pay the bill on it. He didn't think of nothin' but himself. Then on my end, I just couldn't take him talkin' down to me even if he is my uncle. I'm not still some snot nosed brat after all. When I said that, he shouted who do you think I am, I don't have to sit and listen to this, you think I'm a old fart who won't just die already, and went home yelling."
Ohkawa spoke, his huge body rocking with laughter. Seishin frowned at the loud voice as he asked: "Then, you had not met with him just before the incident?"
"Didn't see him. Even before that---'at was early spring wasn't it? Suddenly he comes on in and takes a bottle off the shelf 'n tries to go, I yelled after him to at least bring the damn money to pay for it. I say that and, don't talk about such petty things between relatives, the old fucker says! Relative, relative, he says! I don't ever remember the old man ever helping me out once, don't remember him ever being no use either, is that what you call a relative, I said, took the bottle up out of his hands and pushed him out the front of the shop. I do that, he starts yelling out in front of the shop 'What about you!' I got too pissed off and threw water out at him. Did that, said don't come here again, I'm cutting off our ties, or somethin', I said."
"....Is that so."
"After that, he was incorrigible. Give me your car, go to the JA, he called to say, I slammed the phone down on him and lately the calls stopped coming too. Then suddenly the police call, saying he's kicked the bucket. After all that I'd say I got no obligation to put up for his funeral but I'm the only one of his relatives left. Everyone's either gone and passed or left the village. Like you'd think, not even having a funeral's just too sad, so at the very end I ended up looking after him. I'm a soft hearted guy at the end of the day."
Ohkawa's body quaked with laughter. His wife Kazuko wore a supplicating smile. Seishin, with mixed feelings, paid and let the shop. At the side of the shop, Ohkawa's son Atsushi was breaking down a cardboard box as if it were an enemy. Giving a light bow to him, he suddenly and rudely faced away. In knee length sweats, his bare leg was wrapped in bandages. Were you injured, he had tried to ask, but he only replied, as if refusing him, that he was bit by a dog. It didn't seem Atsushi was in the mood to speak with Seishin. Unable to find a way to guide the conversation from there, Seishin left the Ohkawa Liquor Shop.
A sigh leaked out. With Ohkawa like that, they couldn't know what Gigorou had been up to. Even outside of the village, Gigorou basically didn't have any relatives he spoke with. He tried to at least ask who Gigorou was close with to Ohkawa, but he responded that "There wasn't no one 'sides the old Murasako pops" bluntly.
Yamairi was isolated, Seishin thought looking at the notes. Not only was it geographically isolated from the six communities below, it was isolated from regional bonds and blood bonds. Indeed, if that weren't the case, they weren't likely to be left behind that deep in the mountains. The three old people who had given up and been given up by so much, huddled together to get by. The three of them died in one fell swoop, everything down to footprints of their life floated away into thin air---.
Is this what it means to return to nothingness, Seishin thought. Everything a person amasses and erected, all of it was reduced to its meaningless origins.
---That is why death is so terrifying.
"That's it exactly...."
3
Yasumori Nao was ultimately, on the morning of the 26th, brought into the hospital all but carried in her husbands Mikiyasu's arms. Toshio couldn't help but be astonished with terror. Nao seemed half dazed, looking as if she wouldn't even have been able to walk sufficiently without support.
"Nao-san, how are you feeling?" he asked, but Nao did not answer. Taking great pains she moved her mouth but no reply came forth. First he gave direction to lie her out on the examining table. As Nao was assisted onto the table by the nurses, Mikiyasu who was attending to her looked incredibly worri
ed as he watched over her.
"Toshio-san, what's the matter with Nao?"
"It's because I don't know that I'm doing a re-examination. The day before yesterday when she came, I told her if she was feeling even a little worse the next day to come in but she didn't come yesterday."
Mikiyasu shook his head. "She didn't say anything about that. When Mom asked the results, she said she was told it was probably anemia."
"Yesterday, how was Nao-san?"
"She slept throughout the day I think. I was at work, so I wasn't with her all day, but. It seemed she had a fever, and she was incredibly tired."
Toshio nodded. Nao's complexion was as poor as ever. The neckline of her sleeveless one piece and her arms looked almost pale blue. On those arms granulated purple spots could be seen. What looked like insect bites were here and there on the nape of her neck and arms, though they may have also been scratches. But, those insect bites looked to be forming pus.
Her breath was shallow, seeming out of breath even lying on the examining table. Checking her pulse, it was incredibly fast. She seemed to have a fever but her limbs were cold, breaking out into a thin, cold sweat.
"Yasuyo-san," Toshio wrote out directions on a memo and called to Yasuyo. "A blood test. She has tachycardia, so just in case take an EKG for me too. Afterwards, tell Shimoyama-san to prepare for a US and a CT."
"Ah--yes sir."
Toshio took Mikiyasu, fretting with a look of suspense, into the waiting room.
"Toshio-san, uhm... What's wrong with Nao?"
"Well, have a seat," Toshio motioned to the sofa.
"Does she have some bad disease?"
"Nah. At least right now, we don't have any proof that she has a particularly serious disease."
A reliant look rose up on Mikiyasu's thin face. Living in Monzen like him, with their houses nearby and their age close, separated by four years, he was in the category of childhood friend. Toshio, brimming with a competitive spirit, was the boss of the group of kids, so when they were young he was what you could have called one of his henchmen. This is how it had been they were kids. If there was something troubling, he'd look at Toshio as if relying on him.
"But...."
"At the current stage I can't say anything," Toshio said, motioning again for Mikiyasu to sit on the sofa. "How long has Nao-san been unwell?"
"Uhm.... since two or three days ago, I'd say."
"The day before yesterday? Before that?"
"The day before that she was tired. Mom asked plenty of times if she was all right. She said go, go to the hospital."
"And the day before that?"
"How was she.... I don't remember. I don't think it seemed like she felt especially bad or anything then."
"What about you?" Toshio asked, making Mikiyasu blink.
"Me?"
"You, Tokujiro-san, or Atsuko-san, anyone. Or any of the younger guys at the contracting firm. Is there anybody who seemed to be sick the same way? If there were, we might think she caught a summer cold or something from them, but."
Mikiyasu tilted his head and thought, then after some time, answered that he didn't think so.
I see, Toshio sighed. "The day before yesterday when she came in, I did a few different tests but the results said that she had anemia, and that was all that came from it. Since we're still sorting through it, I want to say she has nothing but anemia. ---But even anemia alone has various types."
Mikiyasu's expression changed.
"That's.... I don't know about it in-depth but, there's pernicious anemia or, like, really bad anemia, isn't there?"
"At least just based on the test results, I don't think it's pernicious anemia or aplastic anema. It's probably not a problem at the blood formation level. I suspect it's a type of anemia from hemolysis but that's not something I can say for certain."
"Is that especially bad?"
"Oi, oi," Toshio forced himself to show a smile. "It's not like that. To tell the truth, I don't really know. It looks like anemia from hemolysis but I get the feeling it's different from that. It'll be all right to keep an eye on her for a while but, think of the season. She has all the duties of being the young wife of a contractor. There's all the anxieties, having to look after of all the young guys coming and going. She has a child on hand to tend to too, and since she's had a sudden drop in energy, let's take care with this, is all I'm saying."
"That's all..." Mikiyasu breathed. "Don't scare me like that, man. Going through the trouble of having a nurse call me, telling me to bring her in, suddenly talking to me about grave sounding test results, I was sure it was...."
"Well, still, until we can put a name to her condition it'd be better not to drop our guard. It's true that she seems really sick and all. Just in case we'll do another blood test and run a CT, and if that doesn't clear anything up, we'll send her to the National Hospital. If I have to I'll write a referral to the University hospital, even."
"Ah..... Mm. Yes."
Toshio was, he dared say, unable to make any difference in Megumi's case. Mikiyasu was relieved but Toshio who had comforted him was not. Nao was getting exceptionally worse. He was throwing vigorous efforts into it, but he was indeed uneasy.
4
Seishin wandered past the side of Chigusa towards the house peering in the entryway. Yano Tae who was watching TV in the living room soon noticed Seishin and called out 'Dear me!'
"Has something happened?"
"I had gone to the town of Mizobe, you see. I had thought to take a short rest at the shop, however, I then thought about how Tae-san may be doing."
"Please do come in," said Tae, then seeming to realize something. "Ah, it would be better to go into the shop. The Junior Monk would prefer coffee to cheap tea, would you not? There is also air conditioning there."
Standing before Seishin and putting on her sandals, Tae who motioned towards the shop somehow seemed thinner.
"Should it happen that you have lost weight?"
Tae looked back as they crossed the sun bathed garden. "It must be summer weight loss. Lately, meals just aren't very appetizing."
"It is not because you are depressed about what had happened with Fuki-san is it?"
Tae blinked as if something had struck her heart and gave a dejected sigh.
"...That isn't what it is, but. After all, I am at an age where it wouldn't be unusual for death to come pay me a visit, either. I am the same age as Fuki-chan, yes? We were classmates in school, you know."
"Is that so?"
"These kind of things are foreordained, yes? That's how I had thought, but. But, the day Fuki-chan died, I met with her, you know. She was sick, and I thought so many times that we should have the Junior Doctor come but Fuki-chan said she was fine, so. But, if I had called the Junior Doctor at that time or if I had called an ambulance, wouldn't that person have been able to live at least a little longer, I think, yes...?"
"If you think that way..."
Tae shook her head. "No matter what, I can't put it out of my mind. Why didn't I call, I think. Why didn't I do what I could, even if it wouldn't have done any good, don't you think I would wonder? It isn't something I can take back and fix now but, once it came to mind, at that time I, if only I'd done this, that's all I can think about."
Saying so while sounding lonely, Tae opened the door to the shop. There were no signs of customers in the shop. Noticing Seishin and Tae approaching, Kanami bowed her head from behind the counter.
"Welcome. ---I thought I'd seen the Junior Monk's car."
"He had come to see how I was going," Tae said, earning a smile from Kanami.
"Thank you very kindly. ...Mother is really losing heart."
"Oi, oi, I'm getting used to it."
"That's how she is. Even if she is your friend, I don't want you to be pulled along with Fuki-san. Even if you don't rush, Fuki-san will wait for you, I'm sure of it."
Yes, yes, laughed Tae; Seishin saw she and Kanami in a very charming light.
"Tae-san is in a good
place now, able to be with Kanami-san like this."
"That's so true," she said, looking delighted. "I'm happy that she came back but I worry since she came back because she divorced."
"If you can be that smart mouthed, there's nothing to worry about, is there," Kanami laughed, putting an iced coffee on the counter and urging it towards him.
"....In Yamairi, the Murasako-sans and Ohkawa-san were very lonely cases. They weren't quite what one would call estranged from their children, but."
Tae nodded sympathetically. "All of the children of the folks up there left the village, didn't they."
"As it was all so sudden, I suppose it's uncertain whether something happened or not. Therefore, I had thought to inquire to the bereaved families as to how the state of things when they were alive, however, nobody is well informed, thus..."
