"Why did Megumi die?" "Can people die of simple anemia?" "I won't know..." "until I examine her in detail." "It looked like it was simple anemia." "Even if it wasn't the case, it looked like we could at least afford to wait until the blood test results came back." "As a matter of fact, I'm the one who's shocked the most." "What would you like to do?" "If possible, I'd like to suggest a pathological autopsy... in order to find out the cause of her death in detail." "No Way!" "Honey!" "You want to hit me." "I understand how you feel." "I'm sorry..." "But I can't allow the autopsy." "She's a young girl." "Please leave her alone now." "Okay then..." "The time of death is around 2 AM." "The cause of death is acute heart failure." ""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" "Yagate eien ni naru "kocchi no yami wa amai zo"" "Boku wa fukaku tsuki sasu" "Oide kono ude no naka "acchl no yami wa nigai yo"" "Kimi wa madoi yurameku" ""Tuesday, August 16, Butsumetsu"" ""Yuuki, Natsuno's Father"" "Where're you going, Natsuno?" "I know." "I'll be there." "This village is surrounded by mountains with momi fir trees on three sides." "It lies alongside a mountain stream and the momi fir woods confine it in a triangular shape like the tip of a harpoon." "It's a village with a population of only 1300, where people have been growing momi fir trees and making grave markers." "Those trees for the dead cut it off from the outside world." "The village is surrounded by death." "Aahh!" "Taro!" "Stop it!" "Whoa!" "I'm sorry, Natsuno." "I switched his collar to a bigger one just recently so he slips out of it easily." "Are your legs doing better, Natsuno?" "You know, the growing pains?" "Uhm... please stop that." "What?" "Calling me by my first name." "Oh, you don't like your name?" "I think it's a good, refreshing name." "Your mom named you, didn't she?" "No, it was my dad." "He said that it's the name of one of the old time nobles." "I see." "Your dad must be a romantic." "Otherwise we wouldn't have moved to a place like this." "I'm sorry..." "I just..." "Well, it's true that this village is in the middle of nowhere." "I didn't mean it like that." "That's okay." "It's true." "Oh?" "Good morning, Ritsuko." "Good morning." "I wonder if kids from big cities can't get used to life here." "Is she dating him?" "No, she isn't." "She's dating the Mutous' son, isn't she?" "What's the matter?" "I don't like it when everyone in the village keeps tabs and reports on each other." "Huh?" "That's because this is the countryside." "End of summer greeting card?" ""To:" "Natsuno Yuuki"" "Ugh!" "I made a mistake again." "Argh!" "Megumim!" "Don't you... wanna leave the village?" "There's a nationwide shortage of nurses." "You won't have a problem finding a new job, right?" "Yeah..." "The fact that I'm still here means maybe I don't want to leave." "I live with my mother and my little sister." "I wonder what my sister will do..." "It doesn't seem she'd leave, either." "Ah!" "He came..." "Megumi..." "He came!" "Whoa!" "Yeah." "Thank you very much for coming to her funeral!" "I'm sure she's happy, too." "Uhm... uhm..." "Could you accept a keepsake of Megumi?" "What?" "!" "Why?" "I wasn't really close to Shimizu or anything, so I can't accept it." "Well then, I'm going home now since it's hot." "What?" "Hey, Megumi's coffin will soon be carried out of" "I don't have any obligation to attend her burial, so..." "The poor Shimizus..." "Why on earth did this happen so suddenly?" "One of my relatives lost her child long ago, too." "Even children can die." "I wonder what happened while she was missing." "She was fickle to begin with." "Could it be that..." "Megumi's gone." "People should mourn her death more." "How cruel, right, Megumi?" "That hole... will swallow Megumi..." "The day it will swallow me will come one day, too." "One day, I too will be..." "I don't know when." "It may be tomorrow, or it may be the day after." "Megumi already died... so I might, too..." "Mrs. Shimizu!" "Mr. Shimizu!" "She was fickle to begin with." "Could it be that..." "Do you mind... if I put this with her?" "Kaori!" "They've got enough to deal with right now." "I think it's okay." "You're her friend, aren't you?" "Go ahead and put it in there." "I'm sure she'd be happy, too." ""Yuuki" " Koide"" "I'm sure she's happy, too." "Could you accept a keepsake of Megumi?" "Give me a break..." "I bet she was able to enjoy her laudable, touching one-way love like that... hoping that I'd accept her feelings someday." "Everyone in this village is like that." "They selfishly assign roles to others, wanting them to say this or to do that." "Thank you very much!" "They selfishly assign roles to others, wanting them to say this or to do that." "Give me a break." ""Wednesday, August 17, Taian"" "Doc, we've got the results of Megumi's blood test." "Oh, they came in?" "Thanks." "Was it anemia as you thought?" "Yeah, but it's not iron deficiency anemia, which is the common type." "I misdiagnosed." "What...?" "I thought Megumi had iron deficiency anemia, prevalent in young women." "In other words, I thought it was microcytic-hypochromic anemia." "But a rough calculation using her red blood cell count, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit value shows an increase in the reticulocyte count as well." "It was, after all, normocytic-normochromic anemia." "So... what was the cause of death?" "I don't know." "What?" "What do you mean?" "Normocytic-normochromic anemia can be caused by bleeding, hemolysis, hypoplastic anemia, and secondary anemia." "But Megumi had no visible external wounds or major internal bleeding." "And yet, she died suddenly so her body must've had a serious problem." "But I can't figure out what it is." "If we had done an autopsy on her, then it would probably have been clear." "Doctor!" ""Yasuyo Hashiguchi, Nurse, Ozaki Clinic"" "They think Giichi might be dead." "Okay." "I'm on my way." ""The Shimizus"" ""Kanemasa" "The Shimizus"" ""Kanemasa" "Maruyasu Lumber" "The Shimizus"" ""Kanemasa" "Ozaki Clinic" "Maruyasu Lumber" "The Shimizus"" ""Kanemasa" "Ozaki Clinic" "Temple" " Maruyasu Lumber" "The Shimizus"" ""Gotouda"" ""Gotouda" "Sunday, August 21, Senpu"" "Fuki!" ""Fuki Gotouda"" "Then Giichi died of acute kidney failure?" "Yeah." ""Giichi Yasumori"" "He might've broken down due to this fierce heat." "Oh yeah, I remember hearing that the deceased Gigorou and Hidemasa from Yamairi both had summer colds." "What?" "I think it was about a week before old lady Mieko Murasako passed away." "She told me so when she came to pick up high blood pressure medicine." "It seems neither of them have a fever." "I wonder if it's what you call a summer cold." "They've been in a daze." "Old lady Mieko seemed to be just fine then." "Hello, Ozaki Clinic." "Fuki is..." "Fuki Gotouda is...!" "She had been looking fatigued since Thursday." "So I got concerned and came to see her yesterday again." "She was also feeling down as she lost her son Shuuji, her brother and his wife." "She looked very sleepy and was in a daze." "We were wondering if it could be a summer cold." "Sleepy and in a daze... --We were wondering if it could be a summer cold." "Sleepy and in a daze... --But yesterday, she was a lot worse than Thursday." ".I'm sleepy..." "Very sleepy." "Her temperature was even over 101°F. --I'm sleepy..." "Very sleepy." "So I got worried and said that we should ask you to come." "Then"." "Don't call the doctor." "Although she was in a daze, she said that clearly." "I wonder if she hated hospitals that much." "Was she coughing?" "No." "Did she go to the bathroom?" "While I was here, she was bedridden." "Did she have pains or have a hard time breathing?" "No way!" "If she said something like that," "I'd have asked you to come no matter what even if she refused!" "Doctor..." "Doctor!" "Hey, Mr. Ishida." "Yes." "I have a favor to ask." "Yes'?" "I'd like to know how many people died in the village this August." "What?" "What on earth is the matter?" "I'm just a little concerned." "Thanks." "Junior Monk!" "Yes?" "What's the matter?" ""Tsurumi, Assistant Monk at the Temple" "lkebe, Assistant Monk at the Temple"" "There was a year over 20 years ago when many people died from accidents on the shore and illness." "Really?" "Is that right?" ""Sunday, August 21, Senpu"" ""Monday, August 22, Butsumetsu"" ""Ozaki Clinic"" "That's okay." "So what brought you here?" "Four elderly people died last summer, right?" "You sure know your stuff." "I'm a monk, so..." "And?" "This year, Shuuji, those three in Yamairi, Megumi, Giichi and Fuki..." "Seven died within just the past half month." "Moreover, Shuuji was 39 and especially in Megumi's case, she was only 15." "Too young to die." "What was the cause of Fuki's death?" "Probably acute kidney failure." "What's the precise cause of death?" "PUT}?" "I don't know." "What about Shuuji?" "All of them." "Gigorou, Hidemasa, Mieko, Megumi, Giichi and Fuki..." "Their causes of death are unknown." "Isn't it an epidemic?" ""Tuesday, August 23, Taian"" ""Wednesday, August 24, Shakku"" "Good evening." "I'm sorry to ask you to come all this way." "No problem." "So, did you find out what I asked?" "Ten." "What...?" "Ten?" "First, those three in Yamairi," "August 1st, Gigorou Ookawa and Hidemasa Murasako." "August 5th, Mieko Murasako." "August 6th, Shuuji Gotouda." "August 11th, Takatoshi Hirosawa." "August 15th, Megumi Shimizu." "August 17th, Giichi Yasumori." "August 18th, Yasuyuki Ootsuka." "August 21st, Fuki Gotouda." "August 23rd, Ryuuji Shimizu." "I wasn't aware of some of them." "They died in the government hospital in our neighbor town, Mizobe." "So... uhm... whatever the circumstances, to have this many die in such a short time is unusual." "What on earth is happening in this village?" "There're various possibilities." "But for now, we've decided to assume the worst case scenario and suspect an epidemic." "E-Epidemic?" "We're only assuming the worst case scenario." "What kind of disease is it?" "We aren't sure yet, but their symptoms are pretty much the same." "It starts nonchalantly." "In Megumi's case, it started with anemia." "For the others, I heard that they looked fatigued from summer heat or cold." "So it starts with very minor symptoms and within a few days, it worsens drastically." "In fact, Nao of Yasumori Construction came to see me yesterday." "I feel fatigued." "My mother-in-law told me that I must go to the clinic, so..." "Since her case seemed similar to Megumi's, I examined her thoroughly." "Nao..." "Yes." "The detailed test results won't be in for a while." "So for today, I'll just give you some vitamin pills." "Come back in three days." "But if your condition worsens even a little, come seem me tomorrow, too." "Okay?" "Okay." "Nao, huh?" "Does this mean that she was infected by Giichi of the Yasumoris' head family?" "If an epidemic is really the cause." "This is terrible!" "This is outrageous!" "In any case, we still don't have enough information." "We have to gather more." "We can't make a big fuss about it before we know if it's really an epidemic." "I'll ask the surviving families casually." "With any luck, we might be able to figure out the path of infection." "L-I'll make a flyer that says that if people have symptoms that differ in any way from summer cold or fatigue, go to see a doctor." "Also, I'll let you know if death certificates signed by someone other than you come in at the office!" "I'll work quickly to identify the cause of their deaths." "I'll find out what it is that is killing villagers for sure." "I'm not gonna let it trample on my village anymore!" "Why...?" "Why did I start closing the shoji screen again?" "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" "Contamination..." "Sudden, abnormal deaths..." "Deaths of that nature tend to spread among close relatives." "Those with little resistance..." "Close contact..." "An isolated area..." "A society that handles its matters internally..." "Complicated regional ties and blood relations..." "Burial customs..." "Once the disease spreads, there's no doubt that this village will be annihilated."