Burning Bright

Epidemic

"I thought it was horrible, too!" Rion said. She was keeping watch for Oomori while she washed her clothes to make sure the boys didn't peek. "Yarai... Even though I thought he measured up as a good guy... And Akira-kun just went and did what he said!"

"Th-That's true..." Oomori said.

"... That's not it, Rion," Akira said, grabbing Zaji when he tried to peek around the big rock they were sitting behind while they looked the other way. "It's the very opposite. He probably... made us mad on purpose."

"Eh?" Rion said. "What do you mean?"

"Only Yarai's group had bad conditions," Akira said. "They probably brought the illness from somewhere themselves... He thought that, and so he spoke to us that way so we'd stay away."

"Eh? I-Is that right...?" Rion asked. "If that was the case... then the bad things I said..."

"Oh my, Sengoku-kun! That's amazing!" Oomori said.

"What is?" Akira asked.

"You made eye contact with Yarai-kun, didn't you?" Oomori said. "That's pretty impressive!"

"S-Stop it, Oomori-san!" Akira said, blushing a little. "Even Mariya knows stuff like that!" He patted him on the back, and Mariya fell over. 'What...?' Akira thought, shocked. "M-Mariya! Hey! What's wrong!?" He moved to feel his forehead. "Yikes! You've got a fever, too! Why were you so silent!?"

"A f-fever...?" Mariya said. "Talking was... annoying, too... This kinda thing's... the first time..."

"Th-The first time... You...!?" Akira said, startled when he saw that his eyes were red, too. 'His eyes... the same disease went as far as Mariya...' "Shit!" Akira picked him up. 'It wasn't just Yarai's group!?' He started running back. "I'm heading back to the cave! You guys come after me!" 

"H-Hey, Sengoku..." Zaji called.

'Was it too late...?' Akira wondered as he reached the cave. "Hey, Yarai!" Akira entered the cave to find Yarai holding Kurusu-sensei up in a sitting position so she could take the fever-reducing medicine, and Torako was working on Ono. Itou and Mikoshiba were sick as well, lying on the ground with Ono. 'Huh...? Everyone... but Yarai and Fukui-chan...!?'

"... That state... It showed up in him, too..." Yarai said, looking at Mariya.

"Somehow," Akira said.

"Seems like it wasn't just us," Yarai said.

"It must be something we picked up here," Torako said. "Something we all recently came in contact with."

"What makes you say that?" Akira asked.

"Because in order for us to get sick elsewhere and appear to be healthy before getting here, there would have to be an incubation period," Torako said. "But they're all showing symptoms at the same time."

"I-I see..." Akira said.

The sun finished setting by the time they had all moved back into the cave again. The glow of their fire inside could be seen in the darkness. One of the small mouse-like creatures that Torako had drawn earlier that day was sitting in the cave, too, eating one of the berries they had collected.

"Oh, geez! This mouse again!" Rion said, shooing it away. Oomori was helping Torako put cool, wet cloths on the sick people's foreheads.

"H-Hey... what diseases is this?" Akira asked. "Everyone's eyes are red... Even though there's not much of a fever, they're not getting up and keep getting weaker... There's a sickness like this...?"

"... I'm not certain..." Oomori said. "The initial stages of the outbreak have symptoms similar to a cold... But they're in a hazy state... I'm worried... and none of the medicines on hand show any effect... Also... the symptoms are advancing so quickly... their eyes congesting with blood is a bad sign..."