"I feel sorry... for both Doctor Ozaki and you, Mr. Muroi." "But I'm not... gonna be..." "Dad would often scare me by saying, "Okiagari will come to get you!"" "So this wasn't an epidemic?" "!" "There's no other way." "We have to do it!" ""Shiki"" "I feel like this severe thirst is making me go crazy" "We close our eyes and have a sinful kiss" "Your scent drives me mad" "When I wake up in the deep of night, I drink up insanity and love" "Come now, into my arms, "the darkness there is bitter"" "You're unsure and waver" "In due time, it will become endless, "the darkness here is sweet"" "I pierce you deeply" "Come now, into my arms, "the darkness there is bitter"" "You're unsure and waver" ""Tuesday, September 27, Taian"" "Hey!" "What're you doing here?" "U-Uhm... well..." "If I remember right, you're Shimizu's friend, right?" "Ah... y-yes." "Kaori, who's this guy?" "Anyway, come with me." "Someone was watching you guys." "What?" "!" "We didn't notice..." "What were you doing in a place like that?" "Nothing." "Carrying something lik" "Don't tell me you guys think there's something fishy about that house too?" "No way..." "You, too?" "!" "Wh-What them?" "!" "You're the first one!" "There's finally someone who'd believe me!" "No one listened to me!" "Dad!" "Mom!" "It's because of Kanemasa that the villagers are dying!" "I saw it!" "I saw someone who's supposed to be dead go into that house!" "Okay." "I got it." "In any case, this isn't a good place to talk." "Yeah." "People call them okiagari, right?" "What?" "In this village, that's what they call those who died and came back to life, right?" "That's right!" "Okiagari!" "Yasuyuki from the lumber shop died in August!" "He didn't seem like the Yasuyuki I knew." "But he was always nice to me so there's no way I'd confuse him with someone!" "I saw Shimizu." "What?" "!" "You saw Megumi?" "!" "Can't be..." "Megumi told me before she died that she saw Mrs. Kirishiki." "Yasuyuki, too." "But... even so..." "We need to find out for sure." "We'll dig up Shimizu's grave." "What?" "!" "Then we'll know if she rose up or not right away." "Th-That's right!" "That's what we should do!" "Hah!" "Why?" "Why in the heck am I in here?" "Masao?" "It's me, Aoi." "It's me, Tamotsu." "I'm sorry about Hiromi." "Also, I'm sorry about the other day." "I said terrible things to you." "I regret it." "Please, Masao." "Open the door." "Well then, we'll come again." "No..." "Aoi." "Tamotsu." "Don't leave me alone." "I'm... afraid of the night." "That guy..." "That guy..." "shows up outside the window." "Masao..." "Please open the window." "Masao..." "No..." "No..." "I can't let him come inside." "I can't..." "Someone... help..." "Why..." "Don't tell anyone about this, got it?" "I'll come again tomorrow, so wait for me." "Okay, Masao?" ""Wednesday, September 28, Shakku"" "I'm alive!" "I'm alive!" "What?" "Who is he?" "Hi!" "You lost your voice, right?" "Don't worry." "There's a way to do it." "When you speak, do it just like you're breathing." "Huh?" "I'm not breathing!" "Don't worry, Masao Murasako." "You'll get used to it soon." "Here." "Ah!" "A grave!" "Calm down!" "That's right." "This is your grave." "You died." "I... died?" "Like I said, calm down and listen to me." "You came back to life." "Came back to life?" "Did I rise up?" "!" "Sounds like that's what you call it in this village, huh?" "You came back to life..." "though you're not a human." "Okiagari?" "!" "Then, would you prefer to go back in here?" "It's not like everyone comes back to life, you know." "Your nephew, Hiromi Murasako, didn't come back to life." "Now, you smell the sweet scent of decomposition in the air, right?" "Hiromi... died..." "He doesn't rise up?" "One out of every few people comes back to life." "In other words, you're special." "Special..." "That's right." "You are now our precious friend." "Friend..." "Precious..." "But listen, Masao." "Although you won't age or die from illness, that doesn't mean you're invincible." "If you get your head cut off or a stake hammered into your heart, you'll die." "But would anyone actually do things like that?" "Also, you're vulnerable to sunlight." "If you're exposed to it, you'll be burned raw and die after a while." "That's right." "If you stay here until morning, you'll be burned to death." "N-No!" "I don't wanna die again!" "What do I have to do?" "!" "That's why I'm here." ""Yamairi Area, Sotoba Village"" "You'll go to sleep at dawn and get up at sunset." "This sleep is very deep." "You can't fight against it." "It's a state of coma." "Well, you'll know what I mean when the morning comes." "You'll be okay sleeping in here." "Also, what's most important is nourishment." "If you don't feed, you'll starve to death." "In order to survive, you need human blood." "Blood?" "!" "Human blood?" "Vampire..." "You can call it whatever you like." "Will I... have to attack people?" "Yeah, but it's not something you should be concerned about, right?" "It's no different from how humans kill animals to eat them." "You've been eating beef and pork, right?" "I..." "I have, but..." "This is needed to survive." "Do you wanna try?" "Who's that?" "!" "You don't have to know." "When you feed on him, he'll die." "We weakened him for that purpose." "L-I..." "I don't need it." "Then do you just wanna leave here?" "If you do, when the morning comes, you'll fall asleep and be burned to death." "N-No!" "No!" "I told you that you're our precious friend, didn't I?" "!" "How do you think the others would feel if you act as you please?" "But..." "I..." "I'm special even among our people." "I can stay awake during the day, and I'm okay in sunlight." "I can throw you outside after you go to sleep." "I can also hammer a stake into your heart or cut your head off as well." "Well, it means that you can't be selfish forever like humans." "Look over there." "You see a glass in the corner of the room?" "Everyone's like this." "It takes a little bit of courage to attack their first victim." "So it's okay for you to choose that, too." "Don't worry." "As long as you follow my instructions, everything will be okay." "You've gained the privilege to kill." ""Ozaki Clinic"" ""Ozaki Clinic" "Thursday, September 29, Senshou"" "Junior Doctor!" "Setsuko is...!" "Nao..." "Susumu..." "Mikiyasu..." "And now, even Setsuko..." "How could this keep happening, Doctor?" "Toshio..." "Please be honest and tell me." "What's happening in this village?" "!" "Tokujirou, I'm thinking of having Setsuko stay at the clinic." "Stay at the clinic?" "Don't worry." "I'll protect Setsuko." ""Friday, September 30, Tomobiki"" "Where're you guys going?" "!" "J-Just out." "Come home soon, okay?" "I have to go out on Funeral Team business." "Stay home while I'm gone." "Funeral Team...?" "Did someone die again?" "Old lady Ms. Motohashi." "I'm called out on business like this all the time lately." "Hey, Akira." "Why are you in such a good mood?" "Huh?" "Why else?" "!" "They'll know we're right!" "On second thought..." "let's not do it." "Huh?" "!" "I'm sure Natsuno will change his mind, too." "Huh?" "We shouldn't do things like this." "You're talking nonsense." "What's gotten into you?" "You're not a kid." "I am a kid!" "Natsuno, too!" "He's only one year older than me." "Thinking seriously about vampires or okiagari is childish to start with, right?" "For a stupid reason like that, I can't..." "I can't mess with Megumi's grave." "She was my friend!" "It's not "a stupid reason."" "Natsuno will definitely come, too." "We'll get proof and let everyone know!" "If you're scared, just go home!" "I'm gonna go help Natsuno!" ""Takae Ozaki, Toshio's Mother"" "I'm sorry about the other day." "Don't worry about it." "So you wanted to talk about something?" "Hm...?" "Well..." "I have something that I want to tell you, too." "Can I go first?" "Sure." "What is it?" "Mr. Ishida from the village office went missing." "On top of that, they told me that recent death reports and forms are missing from the office, too." "As it stands, we won't be able to let people outside Sotoba village know that there have been many deaths here." "Oh..." "I see..." "So that's how it is..." "Toshio..." "Do you understand what this means?" "As it stands, we won't be able to involve the local government on this case." "Well..." "Forget about the epidemic." "Toshio?" "Say, Seishin." "At some point, you wrote in an essay... that this village is surrounded by death, right?" "What's this about, all of a sudden?" "I think that's the state this place is in right now." "It's like the momi fir trees that symbolize death in this village are trying to swallow everything, don't you think?" "What are you trying to say?" "I think I've found the answer to this series of deaths." "Various symptoms, starting with anemia." "Pale skin and lethargy..." "Cold sweats." "Pulse is hard to detect." "In the end, multiple organ failure..." "I was so obsessed with the idea of an epidemic that I overlooked the idea of hemorrhagic shock." "But you said there were no external injuries or internal bleeding." "There was... a mark that looked like insect bites." "But it wasn't insects that made those marks." "It was okiagari." "Toshio..." "That can't be right." "Okiagari..." "You can call it vampires, too." "By just accepting such an absurd existence, we can deduce all the answers." "Wait..." "Dying from hemorrhagic shock is one thing." "But no disease would make people quit their jobs or move." "Those who sucked blood probably used strong hypnosis on their victims, telling them to move or quit their job so that the mortality rate within the village won't go up." "If it's okiagari, they can probably do things like that." "Toshio..." "You know about things like the occult better than I do, right?" "That's not the point." "Is there any other explanation, then?" "So let's find out." "What?" "From now on, I'll act based on the idea that okiagari really exists." "Toshio..." "I'm having Mrs. Setsuko Yasumori stay at my clinic right now." "I've decided to protect her by keeping a night watch on her for a while." "They should come at night." "If things go well, I might be able to capture this enemy." "Seishin..." "Please... help me on this." "Let me... think about it a bit." "Ah!" "Natsuno!" "Hey, you came." "Of course!" "Use this one." "Cool!" "You, too." "You know where Shimizu's grave is, right?" "Ah, yes, but..." "Let's go." "Say, Natsuno." "Wouldn't it look suspicious if three of us are carrying things like this?" "Just act confident." "If you act like you're going to help dig a grave pit, no one would care." "I see..." "You really are amazing!" "This is the path they carried Megumi's coffin through... the path that adults took to bring Megumi to a dark pit..." "A-Are we really gonna do it?" "Megumi is... underneath here..." "Let's do it!" "I was walking towards my grand dream" "It was an endless journey in which I lost my way time and time again" "That time, it was raining with snow mixed in" "I couldn't tell if they were my tears or not" "Farewell, we can never see each other again" "PH take another step towards the future I chose... by overcoming a big obstacle" "Why did you say, "This is the end" even though we loved each other?" "Now I see it clearly" "So, I'll "walk" with determination" "Just as there are no human societies that do not believe in gods, there are no human societies that do not fear death." "That fear of death made people seek an existence that surpasses death." "There are no societies that do not produce corpses, either." "So, in the sense that the dead always remind you of death, they are tainted with death, therefore cursed."