sinnesspiel | Shiki Novel Translations 9.2

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Shiki Novel Translations 9.2

2

"Doctor, something from Tajima National Health Institute's arrived, were you waiting on something?"

At Towada's voice, Toshio looked up from the document he was reading. It was the written report on Giichi's death from somebody he knew at the National hospital. As expected Giichi had pneumonia. The cause of death was gram positive cocci, and arrhythmia caused by heart failure.

"It's come? Sorry, but could you fish out just Megumi-chan's results for me?"

"Megumi---Shimizu-chan, you mean?"

"Right," Toshio said, as Towada nodded knowledgeably and turned back. Soon there was the sound of someone hurrying, and Mutou rather than Towada came back with a single sheet of paper.

"Sorry about that, Mutou-san."

Toshio took the test results and looked to the main entries. Her total red blood cell count, white blood cell count, and platelet count were down, and her hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit were reduced as well. In contrast, her reticlocyte count was high, and her serum iron levels, TIBC, and serum ferritin levels were normal.

Toshio's brows furrowed. ---These were not happy results.

"How is it?"

Being spoken to, Toshio finally realized that Mutou was still standing in front of his desk, trying to peek, himself. He felt like telling him to let it go but Mutou was close to Shimizu. Never mind that Toshio was the one to say it was anemia, Megumi did suddenly die. Regardless of the difference in degree of sentiment, Mutou may have been the same in feeling some kind of guilt or something towards Shimizu.

"Ah--- yeah."

"Anemia after all?"

Toshio took a breath. "There was anemia. But, while it was anemia---it wasn't iron deficiency anemia. I misdiagnosed."

That can't be! Mutou made a grievous face.

"Serum iron levels, TBIC and serum ferritin, all of them are entirely within the normal range. If it were iron deficiency anemia, then their levels not being low is strange."

"But the results only came back today," Mutou said, dismayed. "That's right, that's, you shouldn't, you couldn't have made an accurate diagnosis until the results came in, you aren't a fortune teller after all. The reason the results came back late was because it was the Bon holiday----"

"It's nothing for you to get that worked up over," Toshio said with a strained smile. "Anemia is usually iron deficiency anemia. Especially since she was a young girl, any doctor would suspect that first. Certainly saying that there was nothing to worry about without due consideration was my mistake, but," the inside of his mouth was bitter but once he'd spit the words out and acknowledged it it felt better. "it might have been better to hurry the results. If I'd done that then at least the worst case scenario might've been avoided. ----That's what I was thinking but somehow or another it looks like that's not how it was."

"Ha?"

Toshio took a calculator out from the desk drawer.

"Mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration." He tried to calculate them roughly based off of the red blood cell count, hemoglobin concentration, and the hematocrit. "and the reticlocyte count are high. That'd mean normocytic normochromic anemia, then."

Mutou blinked. "What does that..."

"There are three general classifications of anemia. If it was iron deficiency anemia, it would be microcytic hypochromic anemia. With macrocytic hypochromic anema, that's three. Normocytic normochromic anemia occurs with acute bleeding, or possibly hemolysis, and if not that than aplastic anemia, or secondary anemia. But, in Megumi-chan's case, there weren't any particular external wounds and there were no signs of heavy internal bleeding. Total bilirubin, direct reacting bilirubin, LDH, haptoglobin--each of them are within normal parameters. That means the odds of hemolysis are low. With her high reticlocyte count, the odds of aplastic anemia are low. No problems with her other biochemical results, either."

"Haa," Mutou blinked, tilting his head. "...So, what does that mean that it was?"

"I don't know." Toshio toyed with the exam results in his hand. "I don't really know the cause. But at least what is confirmed is that it was secondary anemia. Besides sudden death, there was something wrong with some part of her body. And, that it was a big problem that couldn't be discerned from a glance. It was that problem that lead to the anemia showing."

"And so.... an example would be?"

"Like I know? Even if these results came out the day I examined her, all I'd have been able to do is a reexamination. The most I could have done is look if there was something wrong somewhere somehow with a thorough analysis but, there wasn't enough time for me to have done that and gotten any results. ---That's what it means."

Ah, Mutou said seeming slightly relieved. "Is that so?"

"This wouldn't likely have gotten any different result if I'd sent her straight to the university hospital or to a large hospital with the appropriate equipment for one of their top physicians to examine her. I mean, there were only three days until it was all over. That's why even if I were a fortune teller it wouldn't have worked. Of course, even if a fortune teller could nail the cause, they wouldn't be able to provide treatment, but."

"Then it was," Mutou said, sounding as if it were complicated. "bad luck, wasn't it."

Toshio gave an all the more bitter smile. "It's possible there were symptoms besides anemia, though. If there were, they wouldn't have been something that just started that day or the day before, though. And that little lady had a habit of kicking up a fuss any time anything felt the slightest bit off. So the people around her thought it was the usual too, took it lightly and forgot about it, probably, I'd bet. ----Well, no matter what, it's nothing but speculation, now."

Megumi was already dead. The corpse was in the ground. In the heat that had become the norm, the decay was probably already fairly far along. He didn't think Shimizu would agree to a pathological autopsy now, and literally digging up old buried bones at this point wouldn't have a point.

"This must be what they mean by a natural life span," Mutou said, shaking his head as he spoke with deep emotion. "All too short, all too out of our hands."

Toshio nodded.

"---You said it."

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That'd be an interesting way to study medicine; think of what medical signs various fictional situations, such as vampire attacks, would have on patients. The novel plays the medical thriller/mystery angle more sincerely than the anime/manga bothered to so look forward to medical examinations in abundance in the early middle (we're just shy of finished with book 1 of 5 at this point, I'd imagine--or halfway through book 1 of 2).

Poor anyone who have to listen to Toshio ramble about med stuffs even when they don't understand though. I think Toshio have this tendency to just babble about anything he wants despite his listeners probably not wanting to listen to them. Seishin is prime example. Not that Toshio is very talkative to begin with, but guess how those conversations will be when his listeners don't even try to stop him even when they actually don't want to listen to some certain things. (not that he's not allowed to vent, but he ought to watch himself) Toshio probably couldn't take the hints when he was younger, maybe he's still bad at it now. (because his main listener is Seishin)

it's one of many interesting aspects in their relationship. An aspect which have to be worked out on.

I've noticed in the chapters with both of them (or more) present how very few lines Seishin has. Just sayin'.

you know, it's really funny that prior to knowing the novel, I got this impression that it's Seishin who's likely to have feelings for Toshio first. (mainly from how they're represented in fanfics. Maybe that's just me because a lot of fics are from Seishin's POV)

but now that I finally know the novel... it seems more likely that Toshio has sorta-crush on Seishin but Seishin is totally unimpressed.

now I want to read fics according to the novel.

The basis in my case for seeing the crush angle from Seishin is how tortured he is by their bond; Ozaki, while clearly fond of Seishin, has no internal conflict over it, despite the setting being one where he certainly could, given his mother, given their divergent views. He'll argue and discuss with Seishin, and indeed their position as the last two of the three village pillars requires them to, but he ultimately does what he wants and asserts himself regardless of Seishin's position. He likes him, but nothing suggests it's to an abnormal or self-defining degree. I can see it romantically, but that does require me to put on yaoi goggles. I can see the argument for Seishin's feelings without them.

Seishin is tortured by his inability to do what he really wants vs. what others want of him. The fact that he has absolutely nothing else he wants to do specifically is a major reason that he doesn't break out sooner. When he first decides to ultimately join the human side, the single thing that breaks that resolution, which was decided on after several months of soul searching during the story, is that he can't accept Ozaki's methods. At least to me, it seems like a choice between Ozaki and himself more specifically than it does the village at large and his own desires. There is no "going his own way" in this even if that's apparently his theme; it's Ozaki's way or Sunako's.

Yet, he feels more over individual deaths than Ozaki does; Seishin's the more humane one. Megumi dies, Ozaki's thoughts are: "I might just want a way out of the blame" and "Sweet, I don't have to go to the funeral, Giichi's dying." Seishin's distinctly distraught over it, and desperately wants to comfort the people at the Shimizu funeral in a way that is not part of and in fact contradicts his duty.

Yet Seishin does not express the stress and pressure to protect the village that Ozaki does; his angst over his duty to the village is minimal, especially compared to his recognition of Ozaki's stress over it. His angst over the villager's deaths is a distant sense of tragedy, even though as one of the two pillars, even as a non-medic, it is his responsibility equally (particularly once its non-medical nature becomes clear). All help he offers is directly aiding Ozaki or at Ozaki's request. He recognizes early on the darkness in him that is all right with the village dying, yet it's not until Ozaki emphatically draws a line in the sand ("This is my justice, where's yours?") that he will enact his justice, even if it puts him against Seishin, that he completely abandons him. Even though as one of the other village heads, he has the power to stand up against him more than he does the village he serves. If it were ever about going his own way, he's had that option.

I also think Seishin could be reasonably have a certain crush on that aspect of Ozaki that can assert himself, even while remaining in the village's good graces. Whereas Seishin (Abel) has to "play" the good role and lose his sense of self (Cain), Toshio does what he thinks is right, even though his extremes most of society would see as not right, yet he manages to stay in its societal graces. He's the Cain who gives the sacrifice he wants to God and isn't ostracized. Their morals are too different to be compatible, but in a way I think Toshio would have an obvious celebrity charm to someone in Seishin's predicament. Indeed, in childhood, Seishin, the boy stuck to his role as a good boy, manages to break some rules even if just under Toshio's ham-fisted lead. I've only skimmed those flashbacks rather than having put them into a solid translation though so that's my impression more than my reading.

To Toshio, Seishin is important, but there's no particular sense of conflict in "do what I think is right" and "care about Seishin." He's selfish enough to put it all under "how I want to do things" no matter how much it contradicts. At worst he thinks it's out of his hands to protect him if the mob goes nuts. He stated he'd fight Seishin if he was against him, but we don't see that in action. Words, words, words. From a resolute man of action. Granted, this could be seen as a sign he's more resolute in his arguably romantic feelings, but this is how Toshio is in regards to everything in his life. For Seishin, Toshio is the exception.

8D - Seishin doesn't actually like to do what people expect of him, but he himself doesn't really have anything he wants to do. He isn't moved at all by a community, but several individuals are able to move him. Maybe because it's easier to reach and be reached by individuals than a community. And he already despises Sotoba, so...

Seishin doesn't have anything he wants to do/seemingly unable to decide things for himself, and he naturally follows people -- Toshio mainly by habit, and also that Toshio is too huge of a force that he cannot really help but submit (he's like this to everyone too) and Sunako because he can connect with her on spiritual level. Seishin is a natural follower and a passive person (he doesn't really do something unless asked to) only that when Seishin finds that Toshio has breached some boundary that he decides to break free (and immediately find other people he can follow)

I like the aspect of staying true to yourself/your values despite clashing with someone you like/someone important to you. So yeah, even though my inner fangirl is saddened a bit because they are now separated for good, I personally really admire that part of him. Of both Toshio and Seishin. (I like some angst to my ships too sooo...)

Even Seishin seems to be being convinced by Sunako over the course of their talks, speaking of him being passive. A negative part of me has the feeling he defaulted to Sunako due to lacking in anything else he really wanted to do or have when "free." Or in another negative view, he needed something as a vessel for his choice to follow his own values and casting aside society; as a writer, characters are symbols. I wonder if she didn't become that to him. And then I only look at it that coldly because I view her as less interested in him or what his novels mean for himself than she is in preaching to him to be sympathetic to her, to his novels as they reflect her and the Shiki. After all, like Ozaki, she does all the talking. When she dies, she wants him to die with her as her last sin. He seems to be an object to her as much as she is for him.

And yet I dislike that pair, while being fully aware of the complexities in Ozaki/Seishin that are less than healthy. You mentioned reading fanfic which affects one's view of things; I've seen quite a few fanwork takes on Seishin, but Ozaki seems to fall into two categories. In Western works, he consistently commits a pump and dump on Seishin, and in Japanese ones he tends to be a dry and somewhat distant but still consistent booty call. Japanese works also almost always skip the "how did this start and why?" aspect, however, so even if I find their characterization to be more in line with how I see him, the Western ones are more interesting to me. I like how they interact non-romantically so seeing it in a romantic context is naturally appealing, but what specifically leads to that kind of relationship out of the one we're shown is vital for me. That the default English answer is that Ozaki's enough of an asshole to initiate doesn't quite click with me; he may run off at the mouth, and he's not terribly nice, but he seems less impulsive when it comes to anything that requires much deliberate action than a quick angry shout or hissy fit, so it's hard to see him doing Seishin once without considering what it's going to mean for the long term. That's just my take though, and I've enjoyed fics of that nature never the less, if only for what comes after.

Edited 2013-11-26 19:18 (UTC)

8D - I don't remember Sunako related stuffs except very little, so I don't really have a say in that -- but maybe that can be the case too. (the truth is I somehow shipped them when I first read the manga, but now I'm eeehhhhhh ~__~ just nooo) Seishin is too easily convinced by others that he doesn't really seem to have a backbone on his own, haha. Not good, Seishin, not good.

Can it be that Seishin follows Toshio because in a way Seishin relies on him/believes in him/looks up to him? Maybe it's a subconscious thought and not a main reason of why he follows him (habit), but it's still there. (he's been following him all his life after all) He seems not to be able to decide for himself, so he naturally follows people he thinks are worth following. But he still have things he's comfortable about and things he isn't -- and when Toshio breaches this boundary, he decides that it's enough.

Though... I don't know, but could it be that he decides to abandon Toshio because he's been thoroughly influenced by Sunako? (hahaha this sounds so silly? But I think he's a bit too apathetic that he wants to actually break free from Toshio or anyone in general after all, or maybe he really holds some grudges about him that he decides to act, like he does Sotoba) That his values are actually rather ever-changing too, because he's so easily convinced/influenced by others. (he's indecisive) It's easier to be convinced by Sunako because they're similar to begin with, that he's able to feel with her, while he can't really do this with Toshio. He's able to feel with the Shikis, while he cannot really feel with the humans, not when they openly do nasty things. While Shikis kill to survive. Seishin is rather this type to judge from how things appear? (he's rather superficial after all about external things) it could be that he doesn't have a sympathy about a community of humans to begin with. But this doesn't include the individuals he's already close to. And while he sympathizes with the Shikis, it's not that big of a deal that he wants to kill/die for them after all. ~_~

I don't know, I'd say he has a backbone where it counts. In the anime, his expression is set and sure when he decides which side he's on, when crashing into Ozaki and co.'s car, when fleeing with Suitcase-ko. He can and does argue with Ozaki when it's something important (more so in the novel). Ozaki may be the more immediately assertive one, but he shows more visible signs of emotional uncertainty, particularly when faced with Seishin as an element in the entire mess.

Maybe the bigger problem for Seishin is not having anything in particular he wants in many cases, making it difficult to do anything assertive or anything other than following somebody else. Rebel without a cause. He's writing as an outlet; he doesn't seem to want to be a writer as a career. He doesn't want to necessarily be a monk. But there's nothing in particular he seems to want to do instead, either. He doesn't even take to protecting Sunako on his own; Tatsumi asks him to. Before that he's dormant, without taking in food at the Kirishiki mansion, waiting for the end.

I now feel sincerely sorry for Sunako for ending up with Seishin, for meeting him at all. Seishin indeed doesn't seem to actually care about her in the end. While about everyone else, it seems like his emotional caring is only superficial/he definitely doesn't feel as deeply as others about interpersonal stuffs. Maybe slightly deeper for Toshio and his family/temple people.

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Shiki Novel Translations 9.2

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