Chapter 1.4

Toshio joined Ishida in leaving the temple office. The grounds were awash in rain like literal waterfalls. At the best of times the outside lights were hazy with moisture, making the courtyard all the darker now.

Taking Ishida's car back to the hospital, Toshio held up his recently unused umbrella and jogged across the grounds. Trying to find a place for his feet to fall that wasn't a puddle of water proved difficult. When he stepped into the white Corolla, he was already soaked from the knees down.

Ishida slid into the driver's side and closed the door. With the sounds of the rain now sounding a bit far off, the inside of the car had the air of a locked room.

"...Ishida-san, I want to discuss something with you."

Yes, Ishida asked, starting the engine and turning to look at Toshio.

"This case; could I have you keep it quiet for a while?"

"Yes, but of course."

Toshio looked to the front pane of glass fogged by moisture out into the darkness and the rain of the grounds as he spoke.

"That's not what I mean. For a while, I want you to hold off on reporting to your superiors. Until I say it's okay, I don't want you to send anything out of Sotoba."

Ishida blinked. Cutting off Ishida before he could day 'but', Toshio urged him to start driving. For the short distance to the Ozaki clinic he said nothing, opening his mouth only once they were at their destination. In the parking lot at night, in the curtain of rain that left nothing to be seen, the inside of the car was a completely isolated world.

"...Ishida-san. To tell the truth, I think it's a plague. I dare say I'm sure of it. And no common one. I researched and researched, but no epidemic that matches the symptoms was found."

"You can't mean a new strain?"

"A new strain or a variant strain, I can't tell. It's possible that it just simply looks that way, but. At any rate, what's certain is that this is a something momentous. Just looking at the victims we can see, they have a terrifyingly high mortality rate. Of course, there might be those with a sub-clinical infection. An outbreak that healed without anybody noticing is a possibility. But when that's not the case, it takes a sudden turn for the worse, and they die right away without any opening for treatment. And looking at just the death certificates, by the time it's at the level where anybody could notice the symptoms, it's already too far gone to do a thing about it."

Ishida's throat suddenly, audibly tightened.

"I don't know if it's sure to break out if someone's infected. But, I'm under the impression that once it breaks out, it's out of my hands. Starting in Yamairi, Sotoba's been contaminated. Like that, it'd been spreading."

"Y... yeah, yes."

"You report this to the administration. You do that, and what do you think will happen?"

"What, you say...."

"If at the end of the day it was a known epidemic, there'd be nothing to fear. I have an obligation to report, too. I can't just stay quiet. But if this is like I said before a new strain, what then? In that case, what can the administration do?"

Ishida moaned deep in his throat.

"...They can't do anything. As long as it isn't covered under the Communicative Diseases Prevention Law, or it isn't food poisoning with means determined by the food hygiene laws, there isn't any guideline for how to handle it."

"That's it exactly. In this case, it's not food poisoning. What's covered by the Communicative Diseases Prevention Law?"

"Uhm...."

"Eleven infectious diseases requiring official reporting, two kinds of specified communicable diseases, twelve a physician is required to report within twenty four hours of diagnosis, the Parasite Prevention Law, the Tuberculous Control Law, one counts under the Leprosy Prevention Law, the Venereal Disease Prevention Law covers four, for a sum of thirty-two types covered. Furthermore of those infectious diseases that are regulated to be kept under surveillance, none overlap with those thirty-two. ---If it's one of those, there's no problem. Even if it's a variant strain. But, if that's not the case? Of course the administration has to do

something."

"Yes...."

Ishida was shivering. That was correct. If there was no legal method of handling it the only thing to do would be to isolate the patients. The doctors and administration couldn't very well ignore the person's wishes and strap them down!

"When it comes to giving them an honorable little push for assistance, we can't count on the Kanemasa's son. It's just like you said. It'd be good if the predecessor was still alive. Even if this gets out we can't count on the administration's help. And that's not all. If this is a new strain of disease, and if it is one that spreads by direct transmission, what do you think's gonna happen?"

"...I don't know."

"Look at what happened with Ebola and you get the idea, don't you? They shut it in. It gets out that there's an unknown epidemic spreading through Sotoba. After that the first thing to do to try to contain it is to isolate it. Sotoba's quarantined, patients are kept from leaking out. If there's no legal basis to do that on, then there's no stopping it from being done in some underhanded fashion. The administration and the Medical Association could collude and move to have Sotoba kept on the down low, handled behind the scenes. That'd be the only way it could go."

"Yes, that's correct."

"Certainly, with that you could protect against it spreading. It's especially valid when it comes to containing an epidemic with as high a fatality rate as this one. But, Sotoba can't be saved like that, Ishida-san. It's like waiting for a fire to burn itself out without sending in a fire truck. If there's not a blade of grass left to burn, the fire might naturally die out but what's that mean for Sotoba?"

Ishida nodded.

"I by no means want to hush up the situation. If it is an infectious disease we're legally required to report, I have that obligation too, and of course the minute it's identified as one I'll report it. If I can convey that it's not spread by direct contact, so there'd be no meaning in closing off Sotoba, we'll pass it up to the administration. But, if the source of the contamination really is in Yamairi, if this's an epidemic that's unique to Sotoba, if it turns out to be directly transmitted, it's going to need to be handled with a certain delicacy."

"I understand what you're saying, Junior Doctor. I understand, but...."

"If it really does spread by direct contact, even I can think of some ways to handle it. There are ways to independently and cooperatively isolate it, ways to announce it indirectly through the Medical Association. I'm promising that it's going to be handled, so can't you keep it down for just a while for me?"

Ishida hesitated to respond. As if seeing through his hesitation, Toshio looked at Ishida. His voice was somehow penetratingly cold as he lowered his voice to a whisper.

"It'd be better if it spreads outside, Ishida-san. If it's something the administration can't help with anyway. If they personally aren't feeling the heat, they won't do a thing. Unless it's to protect themselves, not a damn thing."

"Junior Doctor."

"Mount Unzen, Okushiri Island, Matsumoto." Tosho murmured as if reciting a chant. "....If you believe the administration will cooperate to help the people at the scene of the tragedy, I'd like to ask your basis for that belief."

[TL/N: Mount Unzen - Volcanos located in Nagasaki which were active from 1990-1995. There was a major eruption in 1991, though due to attention and evacuation orders, the direct on-site casualties were fewer than 50, and primarily made up of scientists and film crews aware of the danger. The emperor and family had come to the site to eat cheap survivor meals such as instantcurry and there was much support provided for victims through various agencies coordinating with the government and independently

Okushiri Island - An island in Hokkaido ravaged by an earthquake in 1993, which triggered a tsunami, landslides, and other structural damage. Considerable government funds were spent on rebuilding including building houses on higher grounds, wave defense walls, a tsunami shelter, and memorials to the 200 or so fatal victims

Matsumoto - Several terrorist attacks with sarin gas in Matsumoto in June of 1994 are referred to as the Matsumoto Incident. The religious cult Aum Shinrikyou was eventually found guilty of the attacks. Motives including testing it for a future attack that took place in Tokyo later in 1995 and trying to kill the judges overseeing court charges of fraud against the cult to delay the verdict. In response to the attacks the government formed risk and medical management procedures for chemical terrorism and instituted analytical instruments in hospitals and police task forces specifically for incidents of biochemical warfare]

Ishida opened his mouth, then, hesitatingly, closed it. Taking in Ishida's silence, Toshio opened the passenger side door. The mists and deafening sound of the rain suddenly flowed in.

"Sorry 'bout this, Ishida-san. I'm counting on you."

"....Yes, sir."

Having gotten out of the car, Toshio bent his body down to speak to Ishida. "And also, could you keep this a secret from Seishin? He's an idealist you know, he can't handle balancing good and evil."

I understand was all Ishida replied.