the fujinomiya curse has begun to systematically incapacitate locals again

As he has for the last few months, when Fuji tells him to do something strange, Soujiro obeys, knowing better than to inquire upon her goals. Doing so invariably backfires... though after the gift basket fiasco, he has begun to have second thoughts. Those are always dangerous when working under someone who seems fundamentally incapable of exercising them.

For example, he was told to buy industrial quantities of food, both for humans and dogs. Instead, he goes to the grocery store. He's already threading on very thin ice. Fujinomiya Seiya, father of the Fujinomiya estate, has long since run out of energy to deal with his daughter's antics. When Fuji went to 'detox' to Galapagos Islands and came back crying last year, his official response was that she was an adult, and that she should deal with her problems as one.

Fujinomiya Haruko, however, is a different story. She has not stopped calling. She took a picture of the definition of ‘kidnapping by enticement' from the screen of her home theater, then sent it to Soujiro. Taking a screenshot would have, of course, been more sensible, but she's a member of the Fujinomiya estate after all.

It's a crisp, early fall afternoon when he enters the only grocery store in Otohama. The clerk triples Soujiro in age, yet he stands straighter than most of his co-workers. "Welcome!" He begins. "How can I he..."

As Soujiro walks in, the clerk trails off. "Good afternoon," Soujiro responds, then begins to shop. As a kid, Soujiro dreamed of moving to the country, to a tiny house surrounded by forests and crops. This is as close as he'll ever get to that, so he might as well enjoy it. Humming, and reducing the quantity by two orders of magnitude, Soujiro shops.

Soon, he finds himself in a conundrum: while Fuji’s order is too much, the store has too little. That’s fine. He buys food for himself while deciding to shop online.

As he reaches out for a regional snack, a tiny hand grasps the air just below it.

Soujiro looks down.

Dr. Shimazu, wearing shorts and a T-shirt despite the weather, looks up.

He knows he should apologize and step away, but he can't stop staring. He's a deer in headlights. A spectator to a trainwreck.

"So–"

"Don't." He hands her the snack.

Dr. Shimazu doesn't take it.

After placing a few shelves below its original position, Soujiro bows, then turns on his feet. He pays for a conbini meal to an old man nervously looking around, then leaves. It's yellow outside. It'll soon turn orange. Hopefully he can eat while watching the sunset at the hotel.

Before he can get into the car, a war cry stops him. Instinctively, he turns, as Dr. Shimazu runs with two grocery bags flopping behind her. Not away–towards him.

Soujiro squints. A mirage? But illusions don't scream…

Since she's wearing sandals and given the uneven terrain, Dr. Shimazu inevitably slips. She catches herself with her hands before hitting the asphalt, but her groceries tumble out anyway. Soujiro's blood chills. This is it. The Fujinomiya curse has spread.

Despite himself, he can't help but... well, help. Upon placing his groceries on the roof of the car, Soujiro heads beside Dr. Shimazu, picking up chips, cookies, candy bars. There's an intensely uncomfortable silence once they're done. She mercy kills it. "Thank you."

"You're uh." Soujiro clears his throat. "You're welcome. Are you alright?"

She nods.

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I didn't, um. I didn't get hurt."

"That's good."

"Mr. Hino?"

"Y-yes?"

"To apologize for the other night, I had... I..." She takes out two popsicles from one of the bags. Soujiro saw those, of course, but... surely, it's not possible. It's not. It's not possible at all. So why is she handing one to him? "If you don't want it, it's f–"

"No! No. Sorry." He apologizes because she flinched at his tone. "I'm very thankful."

He takes it.

Another pause. They're in the middle of the street. In a different world, a car would've honked as it whizzed by already.

"...we should move."

He agrees, and he obeys. There's a bench next to the grocery store. Soujiro sits on it with Dr. Shimazu. As they eat their popsicles, they watch the sun, the clouds, and the sea below the cliff. Next to the likelier possibility–that the Fujinomiya curse has begun to systematically incapacitate locals again–this is much, much better.

***

The second time Otohama Medical Center requests additional staffing, Amelia volunteers herself again. They readily accept this time. Munetoshi Nagumo wrote a very positive report about her, though he told her, in private, to stop ‘enabling’ Koha-chin. Says the man who told her to leave Koha-chin’s window open unless the temperature drops!

While driving, one of her friends calls. Amelia puts the phone on speaker. “Claire, hiii!”

“Amelia, what’s up? What time is it there right now?”

“Seven in the morning. Wait. What time is it there right now?”

“Meh. Not that late,” is Claire’s response. Before midnight, probably. “How have you been? Did you get published yet?”

“Uhh…” To think about that will make her cry. “...I’ve been busy.”

“I imagine, yeah. I saw that there’s a light novel contest coming up. I was wondering if maybe…”

“You want me to translate your stuff again.” Amelia groaned. “Sure.”

Claire makes an ‘ehe’ sound. Apparently she got it from some character. “Well, good news. I’m also learning Japanese. I passed the N4 one last time!” Amelia doesn’t tell her that passing N4 Japanese is like having a handbook of common phrases when traveling. “I’m even thinking of visiting.”

Amelia grins. “Really?”

“Yeah!”

“I’M SO EXCI–wait. You can’t.”

“W-what!?”

Claire visiting would mean Amelia hosting her, which would inevitably lead to her wanting to follow Amelia during work hours, which could lead to her meeting Koha-chin. It’s cruel, but Claire would not be able to keep her mouth shut about it. There’s a reason why Amelia hasn’t told anyone about her yet. “...sorry… I’ve been going back and forth between villages.”

“Okay, and!?”

“And… I’m not sure if the program would allow me to have guests. I’d have to ask?”

“Ask!”

Oh, no. At this rate, Claire is going to show up. She’s not as much into the local culture as Amelia, but she’s a huge fan of The Day The Last Blade Was Held. Their friendship will end the moment she finds out that Amelia has been taking care of Koha-chin without telling anyone. “Y-yeah, I will. I will. Anyway, wanna know something fun? The place I’m taking care of right now has a lot of samurai names.”

“Amelia!? That’s racist!?”

“Wait, I didn’t mean–”

“That’s like a Japanese person coming to France, staying at your house, and saying, ‘ohmygosh, everyone is like Napoleon’ just because you’re short.”

“No, I mean they literally…” Amelia trails off. Foliage has taken over the buildings nearby. To be driving by a dead village means that she’s approaching a dying one. “...never mind. I’m sorry.”

“Good! I’m glad that you told this to me and not to the locals. I can’t even imagine how they would’ve reacted.”

Could the magnanimous names in the area be due to the location? Could it be a coincidence? Could it be Amelia being culturally insensitive? It’s not like she can tell whether the names in her hometown are… were… that different from the norm.

It’s been two weeks since Koha-chin transferred to Otohama. They’ve asked for reinforcements again. Due to Nagumo’s report, it was easy for Amelia to volunteer this time. The other nurse–Yuu Eguchi–had to take her baby to Karatsu due to a birth defect they can’t treat at the clinic.

While sad, there’s a sense of hope to seeing new life blossom at the end of the world. By the time she reaches the clinic, Claire has fallen asleep during the call–again. Amelia feels reinvigorated. Life is good. It’s just… what is it with all those crates in front of the building?