Shiki: New Life chapter 10
"How did Tukiko get sick!?" Mitsuo looked up at her father, Yoshiyaki Chi, a tall man with shaggy brown hair and mostache looked down at Tsuneo, Mitsuo, and Kotone who brought Tukiko home. "Tukiko's sick!?" Her younger brother, Yutaka Chi ran down to see his sick sister. Yutaka looked almost identical to his older sister, having white hair streaked with red and unlike Tukiko, has light lavender eyes. "My dear Tukiko!" Her mother, Suzu Chi ran into the room and held her dear daughter. Suzu had long red hair and dark, jade green eyes, she looked like she almost had a heart attack when she soon figured that Tukiko had anemia.
"She is ill! We need to take her to the clinic." Suzu said, looking down at her ill daughter. Mitsuo looked to see Kotone and Tsuneo staring at him. "Will Tukiko be fine?" Tsuneo asked Mitsuo, remembering Mitsuo has been visiting Hotaka and Emi from what he had heard. "I'm afraid not, this anemia kills the victim in three to four days. It killed Hotaru's sisters and mother, Ryota, Chiyo, and it will keep on attacking the village as long as it goes around." Mitsuo said and looked at the bite markings on the back of Tukiko's neck and realized something odd, she was bitten sometime during the day. Mitsuo thought hard and was trying to remember how she would have gotten it until he realized one thing, the maid for the Enoshiki family is Ran and for an odd reason, Mitsuo had to agree that somehow, somewhere, Ran was part vampire.
"But how can she safely move around during the day without being burned?" Mitsuo thought to himself and suddenly decided there was something else about the anemia until he remembered the novel, Shiki. "Jinrou are a special type of Shiki, being able to move around during the day and eat normal food. Think of them as werewolves." The book played in his mind like a broken radio and instantly figured it out, Ran was a Jinrou and the only way to prove it was to watch her bite someone during class. "Yukimura, if she is sick tomorrow I will know." Mitsuo said as he watched Tukiko sleep in bed and walked home.
The house was dark due to his family attending Ryota's funeral. Mitsuo stayed at home because he and Ryota never liked each other, and also Mitsuo believed Ryota wouldn't want Mitsuo to come a step near his funeral. "So, why are you not going to Ryota's funeral?" Yutaka asked Mitsuo, Tukiko's brother decided to keep Mitsuo company because both may lose someone close to them, for the both of them, it was Tukiko. "Yutaka? Do you mind watching some classic horror flicks?" Mitsuo asked the white and red haired teen who smiled. "Those are my favorites. What do you got, Mitsuo?" Yutaka said with a face glimmering with interest.
"Vampire ones, not the gross Twilight crap but you know, Count Dracula and all that." Mitsuo said as he pulled out a Dracula movie from the dresser and Yutaka smiled. "Thats fine by me!" Yutaka said as they sat down to watch the films. Popcorn ready and the screen lit with the vampire movies playing, Mitsuo made sure to keep his notepad beside him to write down some facts each movie made. Mitsuo would watch Yutaka munching on popcorn and lying on his stomach, with lavender eyes lighten up with fascination.
After the movies were done, Mitsuo collected much data for his notepad. "Vampires are afraid of garlic, meaning that if people eat it and or wear it around the house, it would cause the vampire to not attack them." Mitsuo smiled at his data and looked at the second page. "Vampires will burn in the sunlight, they need to rest in dark areas in order to live." Mitsuo turned to page three and began to read. "Vampires must drink blood or else they would starve to death." Mitsuo smiled and saw Yutaka looking at the notepad. "Are you writing some vampire stuff, Mitsuo?" Yutaka gave Mitsuo a corny smile and laughed, Mitsuo lightly punched the younger teen's shoulder.
"How old are you Yutaka for thinking that?" Mitsuo said as he looked at the white and red haired boy, pale lavender eyes looked at him with confusion. "Fourteen, turning fifteen this Halloween. My sister would be turning eighteen October twenty-fifth." Yutaka declared, Mitsuo looked at him with wonder. "You and Tukiko share the same birth month?" Mitsuo asked and Yutaka scratched behind his head and laughed. "Its a complicated thing, you don't want to know how many times I had to answer that question over and over to many different people." Yutaka smirked playfully. "Well the notepad holds important information, and also may help us find out what caused Tukiko's illness and the deaths of many." Mitsuo said and saw Yutaka instantly had his eyes wide as an owl when he mentioned his older sister's name.
"You can save Tukiko!?" Yutaka sat down beside Mitsuo and looked up at him, wanting to hear more about it. "Well, Yutaka. I will tell you this is true, but it may sound very... Fictional." Mitsuo said as he looked at Yutaka, his lavender eyes were huge and full of demand to know the answers to save his only sibling. "I don't care. As long as Tukiko is alright, I will watch her all night long until she gets better." Yutaka said, Mitsuo smiled at Yutaka's courage and determination to stand by and care for his sister. "Alright, here is the information. I believe that Sotoba is becoming infested with Okiagari, vampires. Or as what this novel and what Emi calls them, Shiki." Mitsuo looked at Yutaka, believing he would recieve a laugh or a confused look but instead, Mitsuo gained a face filled with determination and also a bit of a "I knew it!" look in his face. "I believe that. I swear I seen Chiyo walking around even though she is dead. Also it would explain why my friend, Akito Miyamoto had bites on his neck." Yutaka explained, Akito and Yutaka were good friends ever since preschool, they were almost never seen without the other.
"Is Akito alright?" Mitsuo asked, fearing that the navy blue haired teen was close to critical condition. "He was doing okay when I last seen him but, he has been looking worse today, according to my mom." Yutaka said, looking down at his feet, scared that Akito wasn't going to make it. "I am worried he won't make it." Yutaka said, looking at Mitsuo with a face of worry. "But, we could be able to save them if we keep them away from the Shiki." Mitsuo said as he rested his hand on Yutaka's shoulder and handed Yutaka his notepad. "My notepad will have everything you need to save them Yutaka, cherish it, alright?" Mitsuo handed the red notepad to Yutaka who smiled with determination.
"I will copy the information so I could have one as well, I have a empty notebook I didn't use yet." Yutaka ran out to go to his house to fetch his empty notebook, Mitsuo followed him, knowing that it was dangerous for Yutaka to be outside at night all by himself with Shiki roaming around. Mitsuo grabbed his flashlight out of his jacket's pocket so he and Yutaka would see what was in front of them. "We got to be careful." Mitsuo said to Yutaka right afterwards, hearing a snap of a branch coming from the forest on their right. "Hello boys, are you doung something you shouldn't? Like interfering with my family?" Mitsuo looked to see a slender woman in a kimono, brown hair tied in a bun, pale skin, and black eyes. "Who are you!?" Yutaka said as he faced the stranger.
"You can call me, Miss Ko Enoshiki. The mother of our sweet leaders, Chie and Mitsuru Enoshiki." Ko smirked as she looked at Mitsuo and Yutaka, some more Shiki appeared, three of which Mitsuo instantly recognized, Yuki, Masayoshi, and Chiyo. "Hiya Mitsuo! I want you to give those who didn't rise a hello for me!" Chiyo said, her eyes were black with red pupils and her attitude has become somewhat more aggressive and sadistic compared to her times as a human bully. "Not now Chiyo, my dear. We will be sending them there unless they promise to stop their little game of Sherlock." Ko said, the other four Shiki beside them looked menacing except for one. She had dark red hair with rose pink streaks and wore a kimono that was red and gold with pictures of cherry blossom petals, her black and red eyes held a story of sorrow. "Sakura, chin up. I will leave the white and red haired boy to you, after all, Ran got his sister." Ko said to the saddened Shiki who looked at her leader with fear.
"If only I had the choice..." Sakura whispered, looking at the ground, as if she wanted a black hole to materialize right there do she could hide from Ko. "Mitsuo. Do as she says! She'll kill you." Masayoshi yelled out to his friend and Mitsuo could see the fear in Masayoshi's undead eyes, Yuki was rubbing his back and was sharing the same expression. "Mitsuo, please!" Yuki chimed in and shared the worry with him, Mitsuo then realized, Yuki truly loved Masayoshi and was sent by Ko to kill him, Yuki and Masayoshi were holding hands and they both shared their frightened expressions. "Ah! Yuki my dear, is this true? One of my prized Shiki, the one who matched heartlessness with Shig and sheer intelligence with Midori, is in love with a fellow Shiki and is showing sympathy and begging for a human's life to be spared! How rediculously entertaining!" Ko laughed and afterwards glared at the Shiki couple, her red pupils revealing themselves. "Now listen here star-crossed lovers, I will get Ran to drag you two into the sunlight tomorrow morning if you both don't follow orders!" Ko bared her fangs at the two who looked at her with complete fear.
"Remember children, this village shall be ours for the taking. All of it!" Ko said with a cackle as a large, bulky male Shiki smirked, ready to attack when Ko gives the orders, so was a female Shiki with light blue hair styled in drill pigtails. "Arada Kimera and Shig Ibuka, may you keep an eye on these reckless boys? If they don't stop interfering with our buisness, kill them." Ko said as she walked towards Kanemasa, Sakura, Yuki, Chiyo, Masayoshi, and a few Shiki followed the leader. "We will have fun messing with you punks!" Arada said, cracking his knuckles while Shig looked at her partner. "Careful Arada, we should take pleasure in tormenting them before finishing them off, at that point, they would be begging to be killed." Shig giggled and imediately, Mitsuo knew she had to be a commander Shiki and one of the most violent minded ones. "Us Shiki are rather sensitive when it comes to foul brats like you two. Always sneaking and sticking your noses into places it shouldn't belong. How would you like it if that were you? Hm?" Shig played around, swiping the notpad swiftly from Yutaka's grasp and started looking through the pictures.
"Hey! Give that back!" Mitsuo ran towards Shig only for Arada to stop Mitsuo with his hands. "Let the lady do her business, little guys." Arada smirked as Shig read. "Interesting finds, very interesting..." Shig smirked as she was starting to tear the pages rapidly, one by one. Yutaka dashed towards the horrible female until she kicked Yutaka in the gut, Yutaka clenched his stomach in pain. "Now, we shall make sure no one will know how to demolish our rapidly growing numbers!" Shig laughed maniacally and Arada followed. "Remember busters, we will always be watching you." Shig said before she and Arada vanished into the forest, the only things Yutaka and Mitsuo seen were their red pupils before disappearing completely. "Yutaka! Are you alright?" Mitsuo helped the younger teen up and Yutaka had tears streaming down his eyes. "They are trying to kill Akito and Tukiko, they shall not get away with this!" Yutaka said before coughing some blood on the dirt path. "Are you alright?" Mitsuo looked behind him to see Riko and Gina, the two strange women running towards them. "It was Ko Enoshiki, and her group of followers." Yutaka explained as Riko was helping him up. "We saw, they are Shiki aren't they?" Mitsuo and Yutaka had their eyes wide. "How did you know?" Yutaka asked the pale aqua haired woman, Gina looked at Riko and then back at them. "Well, we cannot keep our little secret any longer it seems." Gina said as she looked at Yutaka and Mitsuo.
"We are Shiki... Actually, Jinrou." Riko said, finally spilling the beans.