"Thank you." "I'll cherish it." "There's absolutely no way that Shimizu would come back to life?" "You died." "We'll dig up Shimizu's grave." "It was okiagari." "Absolute solitude..." "Those who're unfairly discriminated against..." "The pain of being forsaken by God..." "What're you talking about, Sunako?" "I'm talking about your novels." "My novels?" "That's right." "Those are the motifs you repeatedly use in your novels." "After reading your books, I felt that the author also must feel lonely... and seems like someone who is forsaken by God." "But it's strange..." "Why?" "PUT}?" "Your stories are all like that, but you don't look like someone forsaken by God." "Why?" "Well..." "I don't know." "But... you look a little like that today." "Really?" "What are you concerned about?" "What about me causes you concern?" "Your illness..." "Sunako..." "Why?" "Because I'm worried about you." "Even if you're worried about me, my illness won't be cured." "I'm all right." "I can talk to you like this, too." "Sunako..." "To my eyes, you look very alone." "You look like one that's being unfairly isolated by the world of night." "Yeah..." "You may be right." "The pain of being forsaken by God..." "You may be right." ""Shiki"" "Hageshii kawaki ni kuruisou" "Me o tojite tsumi bukaki kuchizuke" "Omae no nioi kuruwaseru" "Mayonaka ni mezamete kyouki ai nomihosu" "Oide kono ude no naka "acchl no yami wa nigai zo"" "Kimi wa madoi yurameku" "Yeah..." "You may be right." "Boku wa fukaku tsuki sasu" "Oide kono ude no naka "acchl no yami wa nigai yo"" "Kimi wa madoi yurameku" ""Friday, September 30, Tomobiki"" "Megumi is... underneath here..." "No!" "This is..." "What's that?" "This is a birthday gift I got Megumi that I left on her coffin when she was buried." "She wanted to go to college in a big city, so I got her a good-luck charm." "Why is this here?" "It's probably because someone dug it up already." "Then..." "Megumi really did..." "Let's do it!" "Whoa!" "O-Okay then!" "Akira!" "I'm gonna do it, too!" "Megumi!" "I'm sorry!" "It's quite deep." "Kaori!" "Make sure you level out the dirt up there so that it won't fall." "D-Don't boss me around." "That sound..." "Did you hit the coffin?" "Seems like it." "I think we're almost there." "We'd better hurry or the sun will set." "Okay." "I think we dug enough to force it open." "Yeah." "At any rate, the cover..." "usually gets nailed shut... right?" "I suspected as much." "N-Natsuno..." "Hold on a sec!" "I'm gonna open it!" "It's empty..." "So now we know." "Shimizu rose up." "No way..." "Megumi did..." "What's the matter?" "What?" "Huh?" "!" "Kaori?" "!" "What?" "What?" "What's going on?" "What's going on?" "What's going on?" "Is this... a person?" "But the skin is cold!" "Oh no!" "Help me, Megumi!" "Duck!" "Kaori!" "Are you okay?" "!" "Y-Yeah..." "What's with that guy?" "He isn't... breathing." "What?" "!" "He's dead." "Hey..." "D-Did you kill him?" "I might've..." "Oh no..." "O-Oh no..." "That can't be true." "It's not your fault!" "You hit him in order to save Kaori!" "It's legitimate self-defense!" "We have to do something about this." "What?" "H-Hey..." "You shouldn't do that!" "What're you thinking?" "!" "Ah!" "What is it?" "Touch this guy." "What?" "!" "He's cold..." "Yeah." "I can't feel his body temperature at all." "If I really had killed him, his body would still be warm." "It was like that earlier, too." "When he touched me, his hand was cold." "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." "Th-Then..." "This guy is..." "Probably..." "He looks like a regular person..." "no different from us..." "But his body temperature isn't normal." "He was dead all along." "If so, he might not have been breathing from the start." "Does that mean that he might start moving again?" "Let's throw him into Shimizu's grave." "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 probably something that someone needs to do." "Unless someone does it..." "the village will certainly come to an end." "Let's take care of this." "Okay." "He's heavy!" "Hey!" "Hurry up or we'll leave you here!" "Okay..." "I think this will do." "But he isn't completely buried yet." "This is fine." "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." "I see..." "You're right." "Let's go home." "We'll come here first thing in the morning tomorrow." "Take it easy and get a good night's sleep." "Yeah..." "But... how am I supposed to get a good night's sleep?" "Akira..." "I'm so scared that I can't sleep." "Can I sleep with you?" "Akira?" "Oh, it's you, Kaori." "Wh-What did you think?" "I wonder if it's okay." "What's okay?" "That man..." "All we did was spatter him with dirt." "Natsuno said that it'd be better if the guy was found anyway, right?" "What if he wasn't found?" "What?" "What if he leaves that place and no one finds him?" "I..." "I'll try telling my classmates when I go to school the day after tomorrow." "I wonder if they'll believe you." "I don't know." "But I have to tell them!" "The feeling that remains in my hands..." "It doesn't matter whether the guy was dead from the start or not." "Those brats..." ""Saturday, October 'l, Senpu"" "Oh?" "Natsuno!" "You're early!" "Since we couldn't sleep, I thought we'd definitely be here first." "It's..." "It's been put back like it was." "The guy from yesterday must've done it." "It doesn't seem that anything is buried in there, either." "I bet he went back to the Kanemasa house." "What?" "That house is their nest." "Let's burst in there together and defeat them!" "What?" "!" "We can't." "What?" "!" "Why not?" "!" "They're vampires, right?" "Then they're sleeping in coffins during the day, right?" "!" "No..." "The young guy from Kanemasa was awake even though it wasn't night." "Ah..." "In addition, it's not clear whether they're vampires or zombies." "They look like vampires, but weak points like "sleeping during the day,"" ""being vulnerable to things like crosses, holy water and garlic,"" ""being unable to come inside a house unless invited,"" "and "dying when a stake is hammered in"..." "Those are just in movies and novels." "I know that's true..." "But then what should we do?" "!" "Are you telling us to just roll over and die?" "I can't accept that!" "Calm down." "We don't even know how many of them exist." "Assuming that it's all of those who died so far, wouldn't it be more than ten, together with those from Kanemasa?" "More than ten mysterious enemies..." "We need to think about how we fight against them." "I wonder if old lady Ms. Motohashi... will rise up, too." "Ms. Motohashi?" "Yeah." "An old lady in our neighborhood." "Come to think of it, Morn said she died." "Do you know where that old lady's grave is?" "Yeah..." "I think they'll bury her in her funeral today, so if we follow the funeral procession..." "Ah!" "Hey, don't tell me...!" "Oh, I get it!" "We'll wait for her to rise up from her grave and take her down, right?" "!" "We'll dig up her grave before she rises up and take care of it." "Ah..." "B-But how are we gonna do it?" "Crosses and holy water work only in movies and novels, right?" "Yeah..." "Why don't we try hammering a stake or something into her heart as a first step?" "Can I do such a thing?" "Me...?" "Such a thing...?" "So that's the place..." "Yeah." "But the sun will set soon." "Let's dig it up some other time." "The old lady wouldn't rise up right away, don't you think?" "Yeah." "Y-Yeah..." "I think I've found the answer to this series of deaths." "It was okiagari." "From now on, I'll act based on the idea that okiagari really exists." "I can't go out during the day." "I have a serious condition that gets worse if I'm exposed to lots of UV rays." "I only have freedom for half of the day." "H' what Toshio told me is true..." "You may be right." "Sunako..." "Are you... really an existence that's forsaken by God?" ""Yuuki" " Koide"" "Hello!" "Sorry!" "Could you answer the door, honey?" "Okay!" "Hello!" "Okay!" "Please wait a sec!" "Yes'?" "Am I correct that this is the Yuuki residence?" "Y-Yes, it is." "Ah..." "You are...?" "My name is Shizuka." "What a strange child..." "Something seems off about her." "Where is Natsuno?" "Is he home?" "Oh, you're an acquaintance of Natsuno's?" "He isn't back yet." "You have some business with him?" "I have important business with him." "Is it okay if I wait?" "Wait?" "That's what I said." "Just how long is she going to continue this stupid ventriloquism?" "Is it because I was nice to her?" "What is this business?" "Do you want me to give him a message?" "Is this urgent?" "It's already dinner time so why don't you do it tomorrow?" "No!" "No!" "No!" "It has to be today!" "When I say I'll wait, I'll wait!" "But I don't know when Natsuno will be back." "What's your last name?" "Who're your parents?" "I said my name is Shizuka Matsuo!" "I'm from Sakaimatsu that is between Monzen and Kami-Sotoba!" "Sakaimatsu?" "Is that the name of a place?" "Or is it a name of the house?" "There're still many things that I don't know about the village, so..." "In any case, your house is far and it's already dark." "Please go home for today." "I'll let Natsuno know you came." "Hey, you!" "Why do you keep being in my way, you damn old man?" "!" "Let me come inside already!" "What's going on?" "What's the matter?" "Th-This girl says that she has business with Natsuno and insists that she wait." "Oh, it's just a child." "Why don't you let her come inside?" "She's strange." "She isn't normal." "What good would it do to make a fuss over what a child does?" "Be nice." "Okay." "In any case, you can wait for him inside." "What"?" "!" "Ah..." "H-Hey!" "Well then, I'll wait in Natsuno's room." "Where's his room?" "Why don't you at least try to listen to me?" "!" "Where is it?" "!" "Go right at the end of the hallway there." "Oh yeah..." "My brother will come later, too." "Okay?" "Okay, okay." "That's fine." "Ookina yume mezashi aruiteita" "Mayoi mayotte owari no nai tabi" "Ano toki wa yuki majiri no ame de" "Namida ka douka wakaranakatta" "Sayonara mou nido to aenai" "Watashi ga eranda mirai e mata ippo fumidasu yo" "Ookina kabe o koete" "Suki datta noni doushite "saigo da" nante ittano?" "Ima de wa chanto wakaru" "Dakara nee "walk" tsuyoku" "We cannot ignore death." "Hence, we have tried to move the concept from the unknown to the known by explaining it in many ways and systematizing it." "The result of that was... okiagari." "So, we cannot use those legends as proof of their existence... i believe..."