Chapter 11: Surrounded by Death

"Mr. Muroi?" A soft voice caught Seishin by surprise. "Are you Seishin Muroi?" When he looked down, he saw a little girl.

"Yes that's me. Who're you?"

"You're a fiction writer. I like your books alot."

"You've read my books?!" Seishin was surprised.

"Why, is that strange?"

"Not at all, glad you have. But I do have to say, you are probably my youngest reader."

"Yeah maybe. I did have trouble with some of the longer words."

"So, is reading something you enjoy?"

"Very much! I read a lot. My dad has your books on the shelves in his library, so I borrow them. There were six full-length novels, and then two shorter ones. If that's everything, I've read all your work."

"Incredible! That's everything I've done! It's very nice to meet you, I've never known anyone who's read them all!" Seshin was touched by what the little girl had to say.

"I've seen your essays in magazines too. There's one line, 'This village is surrounded by death'. You meant Sotoba, didn't you?" She spoke with the same facade she had been keeping up.

"I'm impressed you figured that out."

"If you've read the article, it's not all that hard to tell where the author lives. You just look up maps, cross referencing the author's bio, and the temple's name." The girl turned around, "You said the village is like a shrine. That sounds so nice. I bet my dad was thinking that same thing. He made the decision to move here after reading that essay. I was very interested in you Mr. Muroi. I wanted to meet you."

"Well, now that you have, I hope you're not disappointed."

"A little! You're more ordinary than I expected." Seishin chuckled when he heard this, "Yes, I imagined you'd have horns and a tail. I thought you'd look different because you write about people who've been forsaken. Now I understand—you don't have horns, but you don't need them..." the little girl turned back towards Seishin, "because you have a scar."

Startled by the fact that she knew about the scar he inflicted upon himself years ago, he hid his left hand behind him. She giggled.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Sunako."

"Well Ms. Sunako..." Seishin was interrupted by Sunako, who was angered, "DO NOT call me Ms.— I despise that word!" But then she resumed her cheerful demeanor, "I can teach you at least one thing, do you want to hear? That cut on your wrist was useless—people never die doing it that way!" And with that she hopped down the steps. Seishin held up his left hand, scar showing, "You're right—it was useless. Of course, I suspect I knew that."

"That makes 12 dead..."

Seishin had received a call from Munehide Murasako, Masao's father, "I'm afraid that we were right." he said to himself.

Then the phone rang again, this time it was Masaki Tashiro, the owner of a local Bookstore.

"Hello, oh...Hi Masa."

"I'm glad I got a hold of you, you heard the news? Officer Takami passed away earlier this afternoon."

"Officer Takami? What was the cause of death?"

"His kid said that he'd come home sick yesterday, with a pretty serious cold, and then he passed out in the bathroom today."

Seishin was writing, while Masaki kept speaking, "His wife is in a complete state of shock—she won't talk to anybody. Could you call 'em and try talking to her?"

"Of course I will."

"I understand, but I need to speak to him!" Seishin heard someone speaking to the other monks. "You have to come back when he's finished! End of story!" He looked and saw a young man with white hair and red eyes, until he left, saying "It's like talking to a couple of mules!"

"Who was that?" Seishin asked them, "No idea. He just kept saying that he 'needed' to speak to you."

This chapter focused on Seishin. Yes, Connor came to speak with him. Yes, he will get another chance. Yes, it has everything to do with SOUL EDGE.

Please Favorite, Follow, etc. You know the drill.