Chapter 8.3

Yuuki was in the workshop when he heard the uproar out front. Thinking it strange, he went out the front of the house; some ways up the road was quite the gathering of people. 

"...What's this?" Azusa also stepped out of the workshop, waving her dye-wet hands. No idea, Yuuki murmured, starting towards it to try to see what was going on. Going up about two meters from the house, the road crossed with the hill up towards Kanemasa. At the heart of it all was a woman who appeared to be near sixty or so. Caught up in some fervor of hers, she was shouting about something. The people nearby were watching over her in amazement. Seeing Tashiro amongst their numbers, Yuuki called out to him.

"Tashiro-san, what is this fuss?"

"Aa," said Tashiro, looking towards the woman in the center of the mass with a wry smile. "It's Ikumi-san from the Itous. She's a bit of a dangerous person. She's on a holy roll you could say."

Yuuki looked to Ikumi without thinking on it. Indeed, he couldn't say that she didn't look like she was in a state they'd call touched in the head by God or spirits or some such. 

"Somehow or another it seems like Kirishiki-san's place is the culprit it seems, the reason the deaths are continuing in the village."

Yuuki felt a sharp pain in his chest.The image of his son's figure sleeping back in the house rose to mind. 

"It seems the people at Kirishiki-san's place are The Risen. She says they're Oni."

"That can't be..."

"Really, right? There are still people who believe in that kind of thing." 

Tashiro laughed but that laugh was brighter than necessary, sounding somehow to ring hollow. Yuuki and Azusa both laughed as well but it echoed the same way as Tashiro's. 

Ikumi shouted. Kanemasa was a nest of Oni. Ever since they came the village was cursed. The bunch at Kanemasa looked human but they were actually dead. She was going to prove that to them now, so everybody would drive Kanemasa out of the village. It'd cure the illness too, the hospital and the temple won't do anything, didn't know anything, didn't care to know anything, Ikumi was shouting hysterically. 

"Ikumi-san herself seems more like she's gonna pass out. That old girl, she's been marching around the shopping district like this all along."

Yuuki gave a dry smile "But what of the people following behind Ikumi-san? Don't tell me they believe what---"

"There's no way they're taking it as the truth, is there?" Tashirou lightly shook his head. "I think they're just watching because it's interesting. That's at least why I'm along."

"That's..." He had the feeling that taking interest in all of this was a bit imprudent. Going along with Ikumi's words would just sound to the Kirishiki family themselves as spurring her on. 

As if knowing what Yuuki was thinking, Tashiro spoke in a low voice. "I think it would be better to follow her. Somebody has to watch to make sure she doesn't do something terrible----I dunno how to put this but I dunno what she will or won't do."

I see, Yuuki murmured. 

"Will you be going too?" Azusa asked, to which Yuuki nodded. 

"Yeah... Going to see might be better. Certainly, people like that can be dangerous."

Of course, The Risen and the like couldn't be real. That kind of thing (protective arows...) was just superstition. It was as Hirosawa had said, likely a metaphor for (the cross symbol) disease.

Yuuki's expression grew unconsciously stiff. Of course such things absolutely did not exist.

"Enough complaining and whining, let's go prove it once 'n for all!" came a hoot from the crowd. 

"Cut it out already. If you push her, the old woman can't pull out and save face either."

"Wouldn't it be better to call the Junior Doctor from the Ozaki's? We'll need a doctor for this."

A voice burst out into laughter but just as Tashiro's and the Yuuki's had, their laughter sounded so cheerful as to be transparent. Even with the chatter and the jeering, a certain tension lingered amongst the group. Yuuki himself had a share of that. 

Ikumi turned a menacing, frenzied glare to the men who had jeered out at her. 

"You'll know right soon who's right!"

Saying that, Ikumi looked up the hill. The corners of her eyes rose as she started up the hill. The crowd split. Half of them stayed behind watching Ikumi climb up but half of them followed Ikumi up the hill. Somebody could be heard saying in a stiff voice that it might become serious, that they should contact the three pillars. Yuuki exchanged glances with Tashiro, then with steeled expressions followed the other people up the hill.