by Fuyumi Ono
"If it's an intermediary animal, wouldn't there be more of a concentration of where the victims are? It feels like they've come from all over the village, doesn't it? Could it be a matter of the ratio of outbreaks? Even if you're infected, the rate of outbreak could be low, don't you suppose? Whether it spreads to the family or doesn't spread to the family;could it be a matter of constitution?"
"That's true..."
"Family it spreads to and family it doesn't, huh..." Toshio said to himself. "Well, even if we talk about it here, nothing's going to happen. Anyway, we need to gather more medical cases, for now."
"That we do."
"Right now I'm suspecting carrier animals. That seems to be the highest likelihood. It's just, looking at the most recent patients, patients coming from the same concentrated families are rare. The Gotouda-san's place and the contractor's cases are the exceptions. It seems like the infection rate, or possibly the outbreak rate isn't too high, you could probably say. That said, don't get too comfortable. Anyway, be sure to wash your hands, wear gloves, and be thorough with things like that."
"And to also be careful with handling medical waste, too." Kiyomi said, to which Toshio nodded.
"I think everyone else is worried too but if we take care I think there's the chance we can protect against it. We have to protect ourselves too, and to make sure we don't become a source of contamination, I'd like everyone to take care."
At Toshio's words, everyone nodded.
"And also, don't spread this out. We don't know a single thing for sure yet, after all. There's no point in inciting a useless panic. Ishida-san and me are taking the necessary measures to keep it quiet."
To this, too, everyone nodded.
2
Yasumori Junko didn't know what kind of expression she should wear. Mikiyasu's funeral was to start momentarily. Tokijirou and Setsuko stood before the altar looking as if to waste away, their faces bowed down deeply. It was heart-wrenching, the way they clung to each other's hands as if they had nobody but each other to rely upon.
Junko's husband Kazuya was weighted with the grief of the loss of a relative he got along with so well. No, it was as if he were in a daze. Junko herself was in a similar daze, and of course was also sad. But, this was the third funeral for the contractors. The first was Nao's death, then from there was Susumu and then Mikiyasu went. When Nao died, Junko's whose voice rang out as she cried, was, on the third occasion that was today, more bewildered beyond her means than she was strictly sad.
Her father-in-law Kazunari was the same. From the antechamber he gazed at Tokujirou and Setsuko, his head tilting with a cool and distant expression.
"What's happening, these days."
I know, sighed her mother-in-law Atsuko.
"Three of them all in a row. I no longer know what to even say."
"You said it. But, don'tcha think there's something strange about this?"
Something, Atsuko blinked. Kazunari's face was all the more cold. "Don't you think it's too many in a row? Not just at my uncle's place. My old man, Yamairi, too. You don't think there could be some kind of bad disease going around, or something, huh?"
Junko's back stiffened as if worried about what others around would think at hearing Kazunari's low voice. Stop that, said Atsuko in an even lower voice. "Don't voice such terrible things like that!"
"But you know, before the Junior Monk came, asking a lot of questions about my old man. If he had get well visitors or not. That was probably what the Junior Monk had on his mind too, don't you think?"
"Please, stop it, I said. Please don't forget that we're at a funeral."
"I ain't forgot. Isn't that why I'm saying it? Adding in my old man's this is our fourth one. With this, that's four new graves built in the cemetery."
"Father-in-law didn't have some strange disease. If it was a disease that could spread to others, we who were taking care of him would have caught it long ago." Right, said Atsuko looking to her for agreement, though Junko only nodded, still dazed.
"The old man's case is different from the three of them."
"It was different. He had been ill for a long time after all. But, to others, they might not understand how different it was. If they start talking about some strange epidemic, they'll make it all Father-in-law's fault. That's why you shouldn't carelessly talk about such things."
But, groaned Kazunaru, trying to continue.
Junko compared him with Tokujirou on the other end of the altar. Yes, Giichi's condition was already poor, and it wasn't a disease which could spread to others. But, was there any way to explain the succession of misfortunes that they were experiencing?
Mysteriously, Junko remembered the night when Bon began, with the now deceased Nao at the lumberyard. Specifically, she remembered the feeling when they had met Kirishiki Seishirou. She didn't know why. The feeling she had done something she couldn't take back that chilled her spine. She had that same feeling. ---Yes, that something that couldn't be taken back was starting, that feeling.
At lunch time Kaori casually looked to the calendar and realized again that today was September 11th. September 11th, Sunday. The character for 11. Two ones. It was on August 11th that Megumi was missing. Since then, one month had passed.
She felt like something was tightening in her chest. Over summer break, it had been an incessant feeling. As they entered into September and a new school term started, she had finally been starting to forget that and yet at the slightest opportunity like this it was resurrected.
Feeling like something was lodged in her throat, Kaori swallowed what was in her mouth and set her chopsticks down. Her food wasn't going past her throat. ---Or rather, when she remembered Megumi, everything from eating to going to school to helping in the kitchen, such every day things all made her cowed. It was like, for example, being at a morning assembly at school and laughing when you weren't supposed to. It felt like she was doing something terribly imprudent. She felt a touch guilty.
Seeing that Kaori had put down her chopsticks, her mother Sachiko made a stern face. "Kaori, now, eat all of your lunch!"
When pressed she nodded but she felt like small bones were caught in her throat. It was always like this. Even if she was casually watching TV, she wondered if it was all right for her to be doing this. Even going to her club or taking classes, she couldn't run away from the thought that she was doing this even though Megumi was dead. Enjoying TV or a book or talking with her friends, raising her voice in laughter, realizing that she was enjoying herself, that she was forgetting that Megumi was dead, the absurd feeling that she was an unjust human being sprung up from nowhere.
Akira, who was scarfing down his lunch, gave Kaori a fleeting glance and said "cheer up."
"Mm...."
Sachiko, too, gave a light sigh. "It's just as Akira says. I understand that it was a shock but get over it and cheer up already."
That's right, Kaori murmured. But she couldn't forget. On the 11th, Megumi was missing. On the night of the 12th she was found. On the 13th, she paid a get well visit. That was the last time she saw Megumi. On the 14th, Kaori didn't know anything. She didn't even dream that Megumi was bad enough to die, and another trite summer day passed her by. Then was the 15th. Suddenly that phone call came.
"Even Megumi-chan would be sad if she saw you looking like that. You have to work hard for Megumi-chan's share, too."
Kaori cast her eyes downward. How many times had Sachiko said that to her now. Kaori's sadness was Megumi's sadness. In that case she couldn't relax and rest in peace to move on. Megumi's death was such a shame that from now on Kaori would have to live for Megumi as well. She said that the various joys Megumi couldn't have, Kaori would have to obtain in her place.
Is that right, she thought. Is that really what Megumi wanted or not? It sounded like an incredibly self serving excuse. There was no doubt that if it were Megumi she'd rather be happy herself than see Kaori happy. Even though she was dead, if she didn't even have a friend mourning her, that would be h
ow many times more miserable for her? Sachiko's words sounded more like being told to clear away her mess. It was like being told not to hold on to her affection for the dead, to clean that up and throw it away. Kaori thought that that would be like betraying Megumi. The more Sachiko said that the more she thought that at least she wouldn't forget about Megumi, that she wouldn't 'clear it away', so she had to think to herself.
Lightly gripping her hand and raising her face, across the table her father was looking worriedly at her. Kaori smiled a bit and took up her chopsticks. It wasn't that she had no appetite but she was still resistant to continuing to eat. She had a feeling it was a part of 'clearing it away'.
"Speaking of that," Akira murmured to no one in particular. "Yesterday, somewhere in Shimo-Sotoba, it looks like someone died again. Mourning lanterns were out."
Sachiko's brows furrowed. "Oh dear, no. ... Again?"
Akira gave a strangely serious nod. His father looked at that expression of Akira's, and then as if tasting something bitter, turned his eyes away.
"Something strange's going on, huh? There's Megumi, then after that the lumber mill's Yasuyuki-nii-chan. Before that too, there were the three dead in Yamairi, weren't there? Why're this many people all dying?"
"This kind of thing happens," Sachiko said, her tone blunt. "Death is something that comes in succession. Even so, I wish it'd give it a rest already. If it goes on like this, it's like a bad omen."
"That's the problem, huh? It's like, I got this feeling something bad's happening."
"Don't say such stupid things," Sachiko said with an overdone grimace. "The people in Yamairi were getting on in years. Yasuyuki-san and Megumi-chan died of illness didn't they? It isn't as if they were killed or something."
Turning his eyes to Akira as he said "Yeah, but," Tanaka swallowed what was in his mouth. He knew that it was Nakano Wataru. Nakano who lived in Shimo-Sotoba died. Yesterday, his death certificate came in and Tanaka turned over a copy of it to Ishida. Since this summer, the number of copies he had handed over like so came to nineteen. And now the pace was getting faster. It didn't take an expert to see that the situation was accelerating.
Even at the government office there were voices saying something was strange. The Ozaki Clinic's Toshio and Ishida were in contact frequently, do you think it's because of that? they whispered. Nobody would say it too loudly, fearing the gaze of the bureau chief. The head of the branch office wasn't from Sotoba. Appointed by the town hall, he transferred to the village. Ishida seemed to ignore the chief and worked with Toshio, something all members of the staff realized, while keeping their mouths shit. Sotoba had a system that kept things moving smoothly. The chief, who was an outsider to the village, had no place in the three pillar system of the village. Complete outsider though he was, the bureau chief had to save face as the bureau chief. Everybody knew full well that if they passed things through the chief, it would actually mean that things would no longer be able to progress smoothly.
And so things carried on its same manner as when it was a village. While it had been annexed into Mizobe, the village was still its own distinct entity, and had a tendency to refuse interference from the town. The town accepted that, and had a trend of lassez-faire. No matter what happened, it wouldn't be run by the bureau chief, and consequently it wouldn't be run by the town itself, and the chief was to be left out of affairs; treated as an outsider; such was the unspoken agreement within the government office. Doing it this way, it went through Kanemasa who put it through to the town, which was how it would come around to the bureau chief. Only after that did the bureau chief's involvement even begin.
That said, nineteen death certificates was too much for Tanaka's heart to bear alone. Especially when things were like this, when he was seeing his own wife make light of the situation, the sense of an impending crisis swelled. Akira was the one who was correct. Sotoba was strange. He felt an impatient irritation with himself for not being able to say it.
Taking a deep breath and raising his face, his gaze met with Kaori's. As if ahamed, Kaori cast her head down. She might have thought that he, Tanaka, was condemning her for being depressed. However clearly reluctant and unwilling it seemed, she began using her chopsticks.
He didn't think there was any need to force herself. It was sad for Kaori to have lost her friend. The feelings of sadness were something that naturally boiled up inside of her, so it wasn't as if she could just repress it through sheer will power, could she? If those around her told her not to grieve, Kaori would just be hiding it. He had the feeling that ordering her to cheer up like Sachiko was harmful, without benefit. But it was better that she ate. There was nothing more important than keeping up her physical strength. ----Tanaka thought as much, without daring to add it to the conversation.
Motoko left the house as always, and in the distance saw a funeral procession. The coffin rose on top of the palanquin, a great crowd carrying it towards Sue no Yama.
For some reason or other she gripped her thumb in her fist. Both of Motoko's parents were already dead, so there was no need to do that and yet whenever she saw a funeral procession or a hearse, she couldn't help doing it. Now that thumb may have been a symbol for her children, for her husband and her in-laws---for that kind of family.
Going to the highway, bearing the usual feeling of unease she headed towards Chigusa. Entering the store, she could see several people in mourning clothes. Mourners who weren't attending the burial services must have drifted here. Motoko felt a faint tightness in her chest. She was certain that when they entered the shop, they didn't spread salt or any such, did they? She couldn't help the feeling that they'd picked up something at the funeral that they had brought with them into the shop.
As if to cheer up Motoko from such a state, Kanami smiled and waved lightly from the counter. Motoko nodded and went behind the counter, preparing to do her job and then blinking in surprise. In the corner of their work space, positioned where the customer's prying eyes couldn't see, there was a paper napkin spread out and piled with salt. Kanami does this kind of thing too, Motoko thought.
As Motoko looked to her wide eyed, Kanami noted the line of sight of the customers and gave an embarrassed seeming shrug.
"It's something at least. It's a matter of comfort."
"Isn't it?" Motoko smiled.
"I get the feeling they're coming in succession. I've gotten a little superstitious over it."
Come to think of it, she had heard that someone that Kanami's mom got along well with had died. There was the misfortune in Yamairi, and a regular customer's daughter had died. Her husband was the father's coworker, so they had gone to give condolences. Even given it was a summer hotter than average, that it was continuing on this long could certainly endear a person to a superstition or two.
".....I'm sure it's over now," Motoko said in a small voice. "The summer heat seemed like there was no end to it in sight but it has gotten cooler in the mornings and the evenings."
That's right, Kanami smiled.
"A funeral? Nakano's son? ---Well, my."
The elderly gathered around Takemura's store front just as they had for years on end. Hearing Ohtsuka Yaeko's announcement, Hirosawa Takeko let out a hysteric shriek.
"Even though it was the old man who was a drunkard falling down so many times..."
"That's just it! When I heard there was a funeral for Nakano, I thought the old man had finally drank himself under too, you know!"
Takeko nodded. "His liver was failing, and it even seemed like he had one leg in the coffin already, didn't it. And yet instead he's living a long life being a bother to everyone around him!"
No doubt about that, laughed the elderly whom Tatsu watched coldly. Honestly, what happy go lucky lot. Is this what this bunch thought of all these funerals were happening in a row here? As Tatsu grumbled in her mind, a black hired car drove before her eyes. Because it was such a fine car, she dared say it couldn't be Nakano's. Just before, a fine foreign car had passed by on the road towards t
he temple, she had heard. It was said that the contractor's funerals were at the temple. It likely belonged to a condolence caller attending that.
As she thought that, walking out in the still summer like rays of the sun, Ikumi Itou appeared. Ikumi watched the passing hired car and gave a pretentious grimace.
"Another funeral, I wonder?"
"They say it's Nakano's funeral."
"Nakano?"
Ohtsuka Yaeko nodded. "Right. The house on the outskirts of Shimo-Sotoba. The son there died. Even though he was in the prime of life."
Ikumi snorted a thin laugh. "This summer's been nothing but funerals. That's why I said nothing good would come of it."
"Oh you, don't you say that every year?" Satou Oitarou flashed his tabacco stained yellowing teeth in a smile. However stained it indeed was, his front tooth was his own. Oitarou bragged about that.
