Chapter 27: Freedom of Will

No matter how much he wanted to, Natsuno couldn't move.

"It feels as if I've lost my my arms and legs. My entire body feels completely drained of energy."

Temple:

Everyone was up and about; Mitsuo Tadokoro was sweeping the premise—

Seishin, "Mitsuo."

"Hm?"

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Junior Monk."

—Chiyo was sweeping the steps—

Seishin, "Good morning, Chiyo! You're always here early." She simply looked at him and resumed.

Seishin:

People in the village are religious.

The temple has many patrons. But this is still the countryside. Their offerings to the temple are small. If it weren't for their offers of help, we really would be unable to keep up.

Tsurumi, Assistant Monk, "Good morning!"

Ikebe, Assistant Monk, "Good morning!"

Seishin and Mitsuo were talking to each other, but took the time to respond.

Seishin, "Good morning."

Mitsuo, "Morning!"

Seishin:

The population of the village is gradually getting smaller.

But everyone's still behaving as usual this morning.

And yet, I'm...

Seishin was interrupt mid-thought by an alarm from his handicapped father, Shinmei, the Head Monk.

Ozaki Clinic:

Yasuyo, "We're ready for the next patient."

That next patient was Tokujiro.

Ozaki, "Hm? Ah! Yasuyo, we'll take him to the treatment room."

"Y-Yes, Doctor!"

Later,

Ozaki, "Tokujiro...Your wife, Setsuko, told me before she died that she had a dream about Nao."

Tokujiro, "Yeah...Nao, Huh...? So did I."

"As I suspected, it's Nao again. I see...Don't get too down, okay?"

He turned to the woman who had to assist Tokujiro into the clinic, Atsuko.

"Atsuko..."

"Yes?"

"I think Tokujiro should be hospitalized just to be on the safe side."

Tokujiro suddenly twisted his head. "I don't want to."

"What?"

Ozaki, "Tokujiro!"

"I don't want to be hospitalized. I'm not leaving the house. I have to maintain my family's Buddhist altar."

Atsuko, "I'll take care of it."

"No! Setsuko died even though she was hospitalized. I can't leave the house because I've got the family Buddhist altar and my work. So leave me alone!" He quickly turned his head back to the way it was.

Ozaki:

It's as if he's reading lines that he memorized in a singsong tone.

Nao might've given him careful instructions on what to say.

The other day when I made a house call to Isami Maeda's house in Shimo-Sotoba, too...

The other day, Isami Maeda's wife, Motoko, called Dr. Ozaki, despite her husband being against it. This was because her father-in-law died in a disturbingly similar manner.

Ozaki:

They probably started making their victims say that so that I can't hospitalize them.

What should I do?

Ozaki was disturbed when his mother knocked on the door.

"Toshio..."

"Mom..."

"There's an emergency."

"Hm?"

"Kyouko is on the floor in her room."

He was alarmed by this. "What?!"

Kyouko was bitten by Tatsumi.

Temple:

Shinmei was trying to get out of bed out of concern for his friend, Tokujiro, alarming his wife, and son—who had literally just entered the room.

"Shinmei!"

"I'm going to see how Tokujiro's doing!"

Seishin, "Mom! Dad!"

"I suggested calling instead...because visiting will be difficult fir your father, but..."

"No...I'm going to see how Tokujiro's doing!"

"He said he'd go even if he had to crawl."

"Tokujiro...I'm going to see how he's doing."

"Shinmei!"

The old man fell to the floor, unsurprisingly, just as Mitsuo entered.

"Ah!"

"H-Head Monk!"

Seishin, "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?!"

Shinmei, "Nothing...I'm just going to see how he's doing. I'm just going..."

Seishin kneeled down to his father.

Ozaki Clinic:

Kyouko was put on the sofa—her condition was bad to say the least. Her husband ran in.

"Kyouko!"

The woman was practically gasping for breath.

Ozaki:

Cyanosis...Respiratory distress...They got her!

Tamae, "She didn't come out even when I called her name for the past 2-3 days, so I came in from outside...since the window was open. Then..."

"Mom! Call Mutou and the others in here! Also, I need a stretcher, too!"

"Wha...I don't want to! Why do I have to do the job of a lowly clinic worker?"

"Get going!"

She couldn't win, so she did as her son said.

"You owe me one, okay, Kyouko?"

Ozaki:

Come to think of it, Kyouko has been strangely quiet lately.

What made me think that they'd avoid us when they do their business?

The Ozakis' house was already open to okiagari."

"Doctor, the Junior Monk is on the phone."

Ozaki was transferred the phone line by Yasuyo.

"Seishin...I haven't seen him since that time. Looking back, I feel that a strange rift has developed between us since then."

"Toshio..."

"Hey..."

"Yasuyo just told me that Kyouko is..."

"Yeah, the same stuff."

"How terrible...How is she?"

"Not good."

"Toshio...He's blaming himself again. That means that we aren't exceptions."

"So...what is it? You called for a reason, right?"

"Well, my father says that he wants to go see how Tokujiro is doing. He heard Tokujiro isn't doing well from my mother. I called the Yasumori family to see if it was okay to visit them. But I was told that he went to the clinic, so..."

"I see...But was your father that close to Tokujiro?"

"I don't know. But they've known each other for a long time."

"Well, the Yasumoris are one of the four families who bring together temple patrons."

"Yeah. His wife, Setsuko, brought the wives of the temple patrons together, so my father may be worried about Tokujiro becoming alone."

"I see. I think he should be back home by now. Why don't you try calling them?"

"Yeah. Toshio..."

"Hm?"

"I..."

"What is it?"

"Well...are you gonna be okay protecting Kyouko by yourself?"

"Yeah. I'll figure something out."

The two hung up.

Ozaki, "I've got nothing!"

Yuuki/Koide Residence:

Natsuno continuously imagined himself running away from the village. The reality, he couldn't move any of his limbs.

Megumi came to the window. He was expecting her—by his own request.

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you gonna come in? You need to hurry...as my dad may come to check on me."

She looked like she felt down for a moment.

"I wanna go over there by the window for you, believe it or not...but I can't get up."

Megumi slid the window, and hopped in.

Natsuno, simply, gave a warm smile.

Natsuno:

Even at this point, I'm hoping Tohru and Megumi would change there minds and run with me.

Megumi, "I'm sorry, Yuuki."

Natsuno, "If you want to, you can call me Natsuno. That's okay. Somehow...I got the feeling...that I can't get out of this village. But know this...I...care...about...you."

She started crying. Then, reluctantly, drew her fangs and bit his neck.

Natsuno:

Water?

No...it's tears.

The cold tears of a vampire, whose body is without warmth...

Morning:

Mr. Yuuki, "Azusa?! Hey, Azusa?! Where'd she go? Hm?"

He noticed a note on the table, and began reading it.

"I saw that Natsuno is dead. I can no longer stay in this village. I no longer feel safe in this village. Goodbye, Azusa."

Alarmed, he looked outside, only to find her gone.

"Azusa! Where are you?! This is a bad joke."

He then went into Natsuno's room, to discover the horrible reality. The man fell to his knees, and dropped the note.

"What's going on?!"

Tanaka Residence, night:

Kaori and Akira were in a state of grief; they had found out that Natsuno had died. Worse, because of the stress he was under, Mr. Yuuki was starting to go crazy; his hair was starting to turn gray, and he was talking incomprehensibly.

Akira, "Dammit...Why...? Why?! I should stayed watch outside and protected Natsuno even if it wasn't easy. If I had..."

Kaori, "Mr. Yuuki said that he'd cooperate...When we finally got him to understand..."

"What...is going to happen now?"

Connor was in the room with them, "I'll tell you what...we don't stop. Natsuno's not dead yet. He's going to become a Daywalker. He's still on our side, I know that for sure."

Outside, Megumi was walking on the roof, checking on her friend, Kaori and her family.

Kaori, "In any case, let's lock the house up good. Natsuno also said that we should never let okiagari in the house, right?"

Connor took out a peculiar item from his bag.

"Here, Akira."

It was a katana.

"I made it myself. It's yours; use it instead of a spiked bat."

Megumi:

That's no use, Kaori...the only way is for you to leave.

Why didn't her father get them out of here already?!

What's going on?

Downstairs,

Mrs. Tanaka was angry with her husband, since he always came home late for some reason, "Seriously, to think that you had to work on the weekend! Don't make me cook dinner for you at this late hour! On top of that, you work overtime every day and don't get home until late. Why're you working so much overtime at the village office?"

He remained silent. Megumi was shocked to see that he was pale—the sure sign that someone else might've bitten him first.

Mrs. Tanaka, "I bet you're barhopping with your colleagues, aren't you?!"

Kaori entered the room briefly, "Mom, we're gonna go to bed now. Did you lock all the windows?"

"Shut up! What do you think I am?! I'm not a housekeeper!"

"I-I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. Go ahead and do what you want!"

The woman spotted a schedule for the new Ebuchi Clinic on the table.

"Seriously, don't go barhopping and end up making frequent visits to a doctor! Give me a break! Kaori! Go to bed already!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

Outside,

Megumi jumped down from the roof.

"This can't be happening, not to Kaori."

Tira was spying on her from the distance.

"Oh...but it is happening to Kaori...Megumi Shimizu."

Natsuno died, Akira got a brand new Katana sword from Connor(it'll come into play later on), Megumi is trying to save Kaori, and Mr. Tanaka is going to die. A lot of things are happening, this isn't even half of it.

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