Chapter 17: Seeing is Believing(Part 2)

Masao's eyes snapped open, the trance that had held its grip could hold him no longer and he regained full awareness. "Where am I…ugh my head hurts….why is it so dark in here….wait…what does the top of that wood say?!" Masao looked to the top of the coffin door, the letters were depressed into its frame "Masao Murasako. Peaceful wishes"

"Why does it say that?! Why can't I open the door! Let me out! Let me out! LET ME OUT!" Masao started to panic, he clawed and punched at the coffin ceiling, wood splinters falling on his face. He kept struggling. Every few seconds another arm would thrust out and batter the ceiling. He even head-butted it. All to no effect."No! This is a mistake! I'm still alive! Please let someone get me. Don't leave me in he-" Masao stopped the silent pleading in his head when he heard digging coming from just above him. When the digging stopped the lid of the coffin was pulled off, and the one who was doing it was a blue-haired man. "What?" He thought to himself, "Who is he?" The man simply smiled, "Hi!" Masao panicked again, he tried to speak, but couldn't. "You lost your voice, right?" The blue-haired man said again, "Don't worry. There's a trick to do it. When you speak, do it like you're breathing."

Masao was confused, "Huh? I'm not breathing."

"Don't worry Masao. You'll get used to it soon." The man put a hand forward to help Masao up, "Here."

When Masao was out, he panicked yet again. "Calm down!" He was reassured by the man, "Yup. This is your grave. You died." Masao still panicked, "I died?"

"Like I said, calm down and listen to me. You came back to life."

"Came back? I'm an Okiagari?"

"Sounds like that's what you call it in this village." He replied while filling Masao's grave back up, "You came back to life, though you're no longer human."

"Not human?!"

"Would you prefer to go back in here?" Masao rapidly shook his head.

"It's not like everyone comes back to life, you know. Your nephew, Hiromi didn't come back to life." He pointed to another grave, "You smell the sweet scent of decomposition in the air, right?"

"Hiromi died..."Masao smiled at this, "He won't rise?"

"Only one in a few people do. In other words, you're special. And our precious friend."

Masao was happy to hear such things.

"Unlike humans, you won't age or die from illness anymore….but you're still far from invincible…sunlight will burn you where you stand, and you will die if someone shoves a stake into your heart…or if they cut your head off….but look on the bright side!" The man finished hammering the grave marker back into the ground, "Who would ever do that?"

To train Masao, the man(Tatsumi) took him to a boarded up house and taught him about surviving as an okiagari. Tatsumi revealed himself to be a special vampire known as a "jinrou", who can stay outdoors during the day and survive for long periods of time without drinking human blood. He convinced Masao that it's okay to attack and feed on his fellow human villagers in order to survive. "You've gained the privilege to kill."

Masao stood above a weakened boy, and a glass of blood. Without hesitation, Masao grabbed the glass, but his wrist was grabbed by another, less human claw. When he turnedto see who it was, there was no one.

Inferno:

This is it...this one is the body I was looking for!

There's no mistake, he is the source of the energy I have been sensing. I must have him!

Elsewhere, Giichi Yasumori(Mikiyasu's Father, and Susumu's grandfather)rushed in with his wife, Setsuko. "Toshio, come quick! It's Setsuko now!"

The old woman was put into a bed, "Nao. Susumu. Mikiyasu. And now, even Setsuko... This isn't going to stop, is it..."

The doctor's deceased friend's father then begged, "Toshio. Just give it to me straight. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS VILLAGE!?"

Ozaki calmly responded, "Tokujiro...I think we should admit Setsuko."

Seishin and Ozaki were discussing serious matters involving the deaths.

"It's rare for you to be the one to call me out, Toshio. You gave me quite a shock." The Junior Monk started, "But you have good timing. There's something I need to report to you."

"What is it?"

"Ishida went missing."

"What!?"

"And so have the recent death certificates from the town hall. At this rate, the rising number of deaths in Sotoba will not reach the outside."

Ozaki calmly replied, "Yes, I see. So, that's how it is."

Seishin continued, "Toshio, do know what that means? Now, we won't be able to present all the data about the epidemic to the administration anymore! Nobody outside is going to find out. Our village is going to be alone!"

"...No. It's not about the epidemic anymore."

"Toshio!?"

"Hey, Seishin. Didn't you write in one of your essays that this village is surrounded by death?"

"Why the sudden change of subject..."

"I feel like...I've discovered the explanation of all these deaths."

"You figured it out!?"

Ozaki went through the list of all the symptoms, before summing it all up, "It was Okiagari."

Seishin was shocked by what his friend said, but Ozaki explained how it made sense.

Meanwhile

Connor had reached where Kaori said the bloodgrass was at, and sure enough, there was a lawn of it. "Damn..." he said at the sight of it, "One might call this a Jackpot!"

Tanaka residence, at the same time

"And where are you two going?" The sound of their mother's voice startled Kaori and Akira, but the latter managed to think if an excuse almost immediately, "Just out for a bit..."

"Come back right away!" Was Mrs. Tanaka's response, "I have to go out to help the funeral group with stuff, so you need to stay at home and watch the house!"

Kaori, "Funeral group...!? Did someone die again?"

Mrs. Tanaka, "It's Motohashi's old lady. It's been jobs like this every time. I hate this!"

On the way to the cemetery

"Hey, Kaori!" Akira was curious about something. "Do you think that Natsuno will come?"

"Why are you in such high spirits?" His sister wondered, before responding "Yuuki? He has to come, right? He was the one who suggested it, after all."

Akira, "He wouldn't...run away, right? Adults are liars after all."

Kaori, "He's still in his first year of high school, you know. He's in the same year as Megumi, and one year ahead of me."

Akira spat out, "That just makes him even weirder! He was acting like he knew exactly what was going on! And even if he was serious then, it's been long enough for him to decide it's a stupid idea and quit on us!"

Kaori, "Perhaps...It'd be better if we all stopped."

"What!?"

"-After all, this thing about vampires and Okiagari...if you really think about it seriously, aren't they just nonsensical stories for children!? We're going to exhume Megumi's grave based on that? This isn't something we should take lightly."

Akira spat out again, "Keh! Kaori, you coward! If Natsuno turns out to be a coward too and doesn't come, I'll be real disappointed in him! I thought he'd be one to keep his word!"

Not too far, Inferno was stalking the two, knowing that they were(unwittingly)standing in his way.

When they arrived at the meeting place, the two found that Natsuno wasn't there. Akira collapsed in disappointment. "He didn't come...I knew it. I knew he wouldn't come. That's how it is."

"It can't be helped." Kaori said, ready to leave, "Let's go home, Akira."

Akira tried convincing her to stay, "Wait, Kaori! Let's do it! Even if it's just the two of us!"

"EEEHHH!?"

"We can't just leave things as they are, right..."

Suddenly, a shadowy figure came out from behind the shrine, scaring the bejesus out of Akira. "HYAAAAAAAAAA!"

Kaori got a better lit look at him, "Ah, Yuuki."

"Take this!" Natsuno tossed a bigger shovel to Akira, and a trowel to Kaori.

Akira, "Heh...heeeh, your really came. HH-MMM HOUUU."

"So we were supposed to bring big ones..." Kaori thought to herself, while hiding a handheld spade behind her back.

Natsuno, "Let's go!" he then asked Kaori for directions, "You know where the grave is, right?"

Kaori, "AA...yeah. We climb up that way a little, and go in from there."

After a long trek, the trio reached their destination; Megumi's grave.

Kaori noticed Natsuno putting gloves on. "Are...Are you really going to do it? I mean, Megumi is under us, and she..." She stopped thinking as the idea of seeing Megumi's rotting corpse was enough to frighten her. "-No!" She then tripped on a little box; a box that she buried on top of Megumi's coffin. "This is...!"

Akira, "-what's that?"

"This...was the birthday present I left on Megumi's coffin. It was buried with her..." Kaori said while opening it, "It's a lucky charm to help Megumi fulfill her wish to go to a city university...why is it here?"

Natsuno, "Because someone has dug this out once before."

Kaori, "Is that possible!? Could it be true?"

Natsuno, "-All right. Let's do it!" He started to dig. "I need to know. Did you rise, Shimizu?"

"Woah!" Akira jumped back when Natsuno flung the dirt, then he joined. "Al-All right! Me too!"

Kaori, "Akira, wait..."

"Whoaaa, Megumi, forgive us!"

It was hours before someone hit the coffin with the shovel.

Akira, "That sound...The coffin!?"

Natsuno, "Seems so. Just a little more. Hurry up! If we don't finish this soon, the sun will be totally gone."

After digging a little more:

Akira, "-All right!"

Natsuno, "That should be enough to get the coffin open!"

"Yeah!"

The lid was already popped.

"At any rate, the cover...usually gets nailed shut...right?"

"I suspected as much."

Akira, "N-Natsuno..."

Kaori, "Hold on a sec!"

Natsuno, "I'm gonna open it!"

The two braced themselves for what they were about to see.

Then, Natsuno opened the coffin.

Kaori covered her eyes, fearing she would see what she pictured.

Akira, "It's empty..."

Kaori uncovered her eyes. It was empty.

Natsuno, "So now we know. Shimizu rose up."

Kaori, "No way...Megumi did..."

Two hands suddenly came out of the darkness, and grabbed the girl by surprise, silently, and dragged her into the woods.

Natsuno, "What's the matter?"

Akira, "What?"

What they saw was that Kaori was missing.

Akira, "Huh?! Kaori?!"

Kaori's POV:

What? What? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on?

Is this...a person? But the skin is cold!

The shadowy figure opened his/her mouth, revealing a pair of fangs.

"Oh no!"

She reached into her pocket, and pulled out the charm from earlier. "Help me, Megumi!"

Upon seeing the charm, the figure let go of her. Out of nowhere, Connor came charging in; Sword drawn but still in sheath. "Duck!" He slammed the flat edge of the blade on the figure(man)'s face, seemingly killing him. Just then, Natsuno and Akira rushed onto the scene.

Natsuno, "Whoa!"

Akira, "Kaori! Are you okay?!"

Kaori, "Y-Yeah..."

Natsuno kneeled down, examining the body.

Akira, "What's with that guy?"

Natsuno touched the man's skin with his bare hand, "He isn't...breathing."

Akira, "What?!"

Natsuno, "He's dead."

Akira looked up at Connor, "Hey...D-Did you kill him?"

Connor, "Looks like it..."

Kaori, "Oh no...O-Oh no...That can't be true."

Akira, "It's not your fault! You hit him in order to save Kaori! It's legitimate self-defense!"

Natsuno, "We have to do something about this."

They all looked toward the open grave. Natsuno stood up.

Kaori, "What? H-Hey...You shouldn't do that! What're you thinking?!"

Akira's attention then turned towards Natsuno, "What is it?"

Natsuno, "Touch this guy."

Both Akira and Kaori, "What?!"

Akira ended up touching him, "He's cold..."

Natsuno, "Yeah. I can't feel his body temperature at all."

Connor, "If I really had just killed him, his body would still be warm."

Kaori, "It was like that earlier, too. When he touched me, his hand was cold."

Natsuno, "This guy...His body temperature wasn't normal in the first place. It's true that he's dead...but it's not that he died just now."

Kaori, "Th-Then..."

Akira, "This guy is...Probably..." He then jump back in disgust.

Kaori, "He looks like a regular person...no different from us..."

Natsuno, "But his body temperature isn't normal. He was dead all along. If so, he might not have been breathing from the start."

Akira, "Does that mean that he might start moving again?"

Natsuno, "Let's throw him in the grave."

Kaori, "Are you serious?"

"We'll come here tomorrow again. Even if someone finds it, as long as they don't know we did it, it'll be fine. I'm scared, too. But...this is something that someone has to do. Unless someone does it...the village will certainly come to an end. Let's take care of this."

Akira, "Okay."

Natsuno and Akira started dragging the body towards the open grave.

Connor, "You would think that he would be light enough for them..."

Kaori, "Be nice!" rustling startled her.

Connor, "Hey! Hurry up or we'll leave you here!"

A couple minutes later:

Natsuno, "Okay...I think this will do."

The man was only halfway covered in dirt.

Akira, "But he isn't completely buried yet."

Connor, "This is fine. For one thing; If he's an okiagari, it'd be better if he's found by adults. Then everyone might realize what's going on in the village. Another thing; the canopy is so dense, the sun will not burn him."

Akira, "I see...You're right."

Natsuno, "Let's go home. We'll come here first thing in the morning tomorrow. Take it easy and get a good night's sleep."

Akira, "Yeah."

Tell me what you think. Inferno found his new host. Connor got the bloodgrass for the potion. Setsuko has been admitted to the Ozaki clinic. Etc.

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