When Tamo Sadaihci poked his head into the office, Seishin was just taking a break after the end of one memorial service. The only one in the office was Seishin. Mitsuo was running about on various errands while Tsurumi and the others were hurrying about for memorial services. The services for the deaths since summer had started working the temple staff to the brink of their own deaths.
"Junior Monk, have you heard?"
Heard what, Seishin asked Sadaichi as Sadaichi made a greatly troubled expression. "It's about Masaji-san of Naka-Sotoba, but."
Seishin's back tensed. It was the Naka-Sotoba's manager, old man Koike. "Something happened to Masaji-san----?"
"Well, that's just it. It's not what happened to Masaji-san but in his son's family, they've left."
Seishin started as if poked in a blind spot. "They've left?"
"Right. Last night you see, there was a Shrine Parish meet and greet. Were you aware that Naka-Sotoba's San'Yasu had moved?"
"Yes, I had heard."
"The San'Yasu's Seiichirou-san was Naka-Sotoba's Village Administration's manager, and since that person suddenly moved on us, we can't go without replacing him. Soon enough we'll have to be thinking about November's Kagura. And so, for the time being we were going to try to consult with the Koike's Masaharu-san. ---Well, even if we called it a meeting, since it was that kind of talk, it wasn't much different from idle chat, though. As usual everyone drank into the night, grumbling over our cups but, then from there when Masaji-san went home, the people from his house weren't there, is the story."
[TL/N: Kagura - A Shinto festival of spiritual dance. The goddess Ame-no-Uzume danced around naked to make an uproar with the other gods to lure the sun goddess Ameterasu out of a cave she had cloistered herself into after a fight with her brother. Specific ritualized dances were performed by miko, or shrine priestesses, said to be descendants of Ame-no-Uzume. Many folk variations formed in different regions. In some, people believe or pretend they're possessed by the gods who come to join in the festivities and dancing. It frequently takes on many elements of street performances including story telling, costumes, acrobats, etc]
That can't be, Seishin blinked.
"Masaji-san was shocked, then a call came. He was worried about what on earth was going on, but then this morning came---just a little while ago. One of the neighbors informed hi that while Masaji-san was out, the usual Takasago Movers were there, they came by!"
"They had moved? Leaving behind Masaji-san? Without consulting with him about it?"
That's exactly rightt, Sadaichi said perplexed. "Junior Monk, you haven't heard anything? From the Ozaki's Junior Doctor."
Seishin saw Sadaichi's imploring face, relying on him. "There's a rumor about a spreading disease, for the record."
"A spreading---disease."
"Since summer, right, haven't there been a lot of them, deaths. There's some kind of bad disease spreading around, isn't there, everyone is saying, but it's said half in jest. All the same, just two days before yesterday, Takemura's Michiko-kun died, didn't he? Wasn't he strange, wasn't it really an epidemic, they said."
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 didn'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.