Chapter 12: Fear or Sadness

Kaori was eating a slice of watermelon on the porch of her house when Akira burst out. "I can't deny it, there's something strange going on here!"

"What, what do you mean?!"

Her younger brother then forcefully sat down and started chowing down on one of the other three slices. "In the village!"

First bite, "All these people that are suddenly dying—Megumi and Yasayuki and all the others—I'm telling you, they're connected somehow!"

Second bite, "And it started when those weirdos moved here! You told me Yasayuki spoke with the woman before he died, right? Megumi too, she died after she walked up to Kanemasa, and we know she met the woman of the house because she told you!"

Then he finished the slice in fast multiple bites without taking a single breath. "But...they said they don't know anything..."

"Just Stop!" Kaori couldn't take another word, and dropped the slice of watermelon she had.

"Are you okay?"

Akira's sister was holding her ears and practically crying at this point, "I don't wanna talk, not about This stuff!"

Connor was nearby, and he heard everything.

Connor:

The woman of Kanemasa, Chizuru Kirishiki. So Natsuno noticed the fangs too.

Well, the good news is that Inferno has yet to find a mortal body to use. So Soul Edge ISN'T responsible.

The bad news, however, is that this could lead to a war. That would boost Inferno's chances.

I need to make the antidote for reverting the undead back to living humans.

Dr. Ozaki was trying to revive Susumu Yasumori, the young son of Mikiyasu and late Nao. Right next to the doctor were Mikiyasu's parents, Tokujiro and Setsuko, worried about their grandson.

"In here, this way, quickly please!" Tokujiro was guiding the paramedics after they had just arrived. Unfortunately, things were looking bleak as Ozaki shouted "He's gone into cardiac arrest, HURRY!"

"Right!"

At this point, Tokujiro and Setsuko were panicking, "H-He's had a heart attack?! Is he...is my grandson dead Doctor?!"

"We're gonna do everything we can to revive him!" Ozaki then turned his head when he noticed Nao's picture, Was he infected by Nao? Then Mikiyasu caught his attention—he wasn't looking well either—"Mikiyasu!"

When Mikiyasu spoke, it seemed as if he was nothing more than a machine speaking with preprogrammed lines, "Toshio...is Susumu dead?"

Ozaki noticed some things off when he grabbed his arm, His pulse is irregular, and his breath is shallow, and his pupils are...

Mikiyasu interrupted him mid-thought, "He was sleep talking last night...he kept crying out for his mother...and now...Nao is gone. The last words he spoke were in his sleep."

Right before the paramedics loaded Susumu into the ambulance, Ozaki stopped them, "You there...hold on, wait, I need to draw some blood! And take this man to the government hospital!"

Seishin had just got off the phone with Ozaki—after hearing that not only was Susumu taken to the government hospital, but so was Mikiyasu—and was making his way to someplace, flashlight in hand, when he bumped into Connor, "Oh, sorry..." he apologized, "No, t'was my fault."

"Wait...you came to the temple just a couple days before, right?!"

"Looking for Mr. Seishin Muroi."

"Well, I'm right here. I must say, first the European Mansion, and now someone who appears to be a real life knight."

"Allow me to introduce myself...my name is Sir Connor de Valentine."

"Very nice to meet you." The two shook hands.

"I came here looking for a certain sword." Connor took out an ancient drawing he had in his pocket, depicting a vile sword made of flesh, dripping blood, there was even an eye in it, "Soul Edge. I was informed that it was taken to this village. Have you seen it?"

"Sorry, but no...I haven't."

"Thank you, sorry for wasting your time."

"Not at all." after that, Connor was off, and Seishin continued his trek to who knows where.

A few minutes later, Seishin was interrupted again—almost at his destination—by a cliché snapping twig. He turned to see Sunako was there. "Oh, it's you. Sunako, right?"

"Good evening Mr. Muroi. What is this place? I didn't even know that anything was up here."

"Oh, these are the old temple grounds."

"Temple, huh?!" Sunako looked at what was 'supposed' to be the temple, but was castoff because of what was inside. "You mean some kind of church? It doesn't really feel like a church though."

"It is a church...well, it was or...at least that's what they had in mind when they originally built it."

"I see."

"I'm sure I've got a spare flashlight in here somewhere that you can borrow. I guess you could say this place is like my hideout."

Seishin lit a lantern inside as they walked past the unsettling stained glass windows that depicted deaths.

"Stained glass windows...kinda creepy though. Is that man on fire?"

"That's called 'Minima Ohtori'."

"Hmmmm, so whoever built this must've had some kind of obsession with martyrs!"

"It seems like it. I think it was built by someone from Kanemasa."

"Kanemasa?! Oh that's right, that's what all the villagers here call the land my family lives on." She giggled when she ran towards the stage.

"Sunako, do you always walk around this late at night?"

"It's the only time I can. I have a medical condition that gets worse when I'm exposed to daylight. We actually moved here to help me recuperate."

"Oh!"

"I wasn't trying to make you feel bad for me, Mr. Muroi."

"Well, that's not the only thing I feel down about. My childhood friend and his son might die...and they're both SO young."

"So, if they were old and dying, it wouldn't bother as much?"

"That's not what I meant. But still, don't you find it particularly terrible when two very young people have their lives cut short?"

(In all honesty, the only thing that bothers Death is when he's cheated, we all know Death hates being cheated.)

"I think death is equally terrible for everyone. Young people, old people, the good, the bad; it's always the same. It's rather fair in its treatment. There's no such thing as a particularly terrible death, that's why it's frightening. Your behavior and age, your personality, your wealth, beauty, yorur personal beliefs; all the things that add up to make us who we are, they only matter while we're alive. Death makes every last one of them null and void. So any death is terrible."

"Sunako..." The little girl's expression went from a sad frown to a smile.

"I guess I should start walking home now. Is it okay if I come see you again?"

"You're welcome here anytime, but the woods are dangerous at night, so I don't encourage it."

"I have half as freedom as everyone else, I can't give up what I DO have because it's risky. I'll bring your book with me next time. It'd really mean alot if you'd sign it for me." After another giggle, Sunako skipped away.

Dr. Ozaki called a meeting to discuss the deaths in the village.

"Now this might get a little confusing for the administrative staff, but just ask if you need me to clarify." The doctor himself started, "Mikiyasu Yasumori passed away on the tenth. This puts the recent death toll at 19."

The information caused everyone to gasp and murmur. "I'm just as shocked as you are. I am. Some of the deaths were outside the village, when you include those and the deaths recorded by the village coroner's office; Mikiyasu was the nineteenth. Whatever's happening here, I don't think that it's a mistake for us to consider this an epidemic. But it's not a documented disease; there's a chance it's an allergic reaction to an unknown substance, but I doubt it. In any case, unless we manage to identify the cause of death, we can't even ask the government for help."

Tohru's father was the chief medical administrator, "But we can still ask our local officials to investigate, can't we?"

"I'm planning on it. But we need to gather enough data to actually give them something to investigate. The only thing we have to go by so far is that it starts with anemia. And according to the blood tests, it's normacidic chrome anemia."

Shimoyama, X-Ray technician, "So it could possibly be caused by bleeding or hemolysis, well that makes perfect sense as to why you wanted Nao to be examined with the C.A.T. scan. But there was no trace of internal bleeding."

"What about hemolysis?" Ritsuko.

"That's the only real possibility left, but we can't confirm from the tests if the red blood cells are being destroyed or not. It can also be a poison or a narcotic, but that's a rather minimal possiblity, considering who the patients are. It's also important to take note of the fact that most of them died at night."

Nurse Kiyomi Nagata, "Do you think that it could be PNH?"

Nurse Yasuyo Hashiguchi, "You mean Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobin nuerea?"

"I see, so that would mean that Nao got a blood clot due to PNH and died of heart failure." Nurse Satoko Isaki, "Kidney failure is another common outcome of having PNH. Hey wait, didn't Ms. Fuki Gotoda die from kidney failure?!"

Nurse Yuki Shiomi, "But...I thought PNH developed and progressed rather slowly!"

Nurse Yasuyo Hashiguchi, "True, but this could be a more severe strain of it."

"I couldn't ask for a more capable stafe. I also think that's an extremely likely possibility. Although, I received Mikiyasu's test results earlier and it appears as though he had disorders in his liver, lungs, and kidneys."

Nurse Yuki Shiomi, "So multiple organ failure, also known as M.O.F., except these days that condition is typically referred to a secondary M.O.D.S."

"Whatever you wanna call it, the entire body breaks down. It progresses from anemia to M.O.F. and takes about three to four days.

Nurse Satoko Isaki, "I wonder how it's transmitted. If it's direct infection, then the family would be the first to catch it."

Nurse Yasuyo Hashiguchi, "Which would make us next in line."

Nurse Satoko Isaki, "Well, what about vectors?"

Nurse Yuki Shiomi, "You mean like rats or mosquitoes?"

Nurse Kiyomi Nagata, "But then the entire village would be infected by now, wouldn't it?!"

"The infection could lie dormant in some people."

Nurse Yasuyo Hashiguchi, "Some families could be succeptible, while others aren't. Maybe it's their physical constitution."

"For the time being, vectors are my number one suspect. Regardless, lets get to work on gathering data. I'm sure you guys are a little nervous, but think we could avoid infection if we're careful." Ozaki stood up, "With that said, we must keep the clinic infection free. Also, let's keep this quiet until we know what we're dealing with. We don't want people to panic."

Natsuno was on the bus, on his way to school. His sleep cycle had been even more nonexistent than before - It felt like Megumi was still there, stalking him. However, this Megumi was very different from the other - Her eyes seemed to glow, her skin was pasty, and instead of irritation, her presence brought chills down his spine. He tried catching up on his sleep on the bus, only to be awakened by a frighteningly, familiar voice.

"Good morning Yuuki! Rise and shine!"

Natsuno awakened at the very sound, terrified by who it sounded like - worse, Megumi was just two seats in front of his. She turned her head to the left, revealing a ominous, glowing red eye piercing into his very soul. However, after he shook his head, she was gone - she was never there.

You're imagining things. he thought to himself, She's dead! Why won't she get out of my mind?