How many times was it now that Seishin had peered out from the blinds. At last the night broke, the spectacle outside of the window coming into view. Since then, the visitor had not returned.
As he breathed a sigh of relief and turned back towards the bed, Setsuko faintly opened her eyes. As soon as he noticed that, Toshio leaned over her bedside.
"Morning. How are you feeling?"
Setsuko nodded dizzily. For a bit, her eyes roamed as if confused by her surroundings but at last she nodded.
"Well, thank you kindly... Good morning to you."
"It seems you're better than yesterday."
"Yes," Setsuko answered, surprisingly firmly. She took notice of Seishin at her bedside, then looked to Toshio in surprise. Toshio laughed.
"He's just giving a get well visit. Should I have put you on a no visitors status?"
Oh no, Setsuko said with a faint laugh. "My... Junior Monk, I'm sorry for the trouble."
"It isn't trouble. How are you fairing?"
"I do believe I'm doing a bit better. Somehow, it feels like my head is clearer than it has been for some time."
"Seems like it," Toshio said peering closely at Setsuko's face. "....Mm, really, you do seem well."
"It's because I've slept well. Lately, when I open my eyes I don't feel like I've slept at all."
"Is that right? Do you remember when you woke up last night?"
"I did, you say?" Setsuko blinked. "No. I awoke?"
"It looked like you did. I heard you sounding like you were saying something to someone."
Oh dear me, Setsuko laughed. "I wonder if I wasn't talking in my sleep?"
"You were talking pretty clearly for that. I thought someone came into the sickroom."
Setsuko faintly furrowed her brows, looking up at the white ceiling. "Now that you mention it... Didn't I have such dream? I don't remember it well, but I have the feeling I dreamed somebody had come to visit me."
"Somebody?" Toshio asked her, intentionally light in voice. Setsuko gave a forced smile.
"Not that I remember it. It might have been Nao-chan. I mean, we are at her forty-ninth day anniversary."
"....Aa."
"Might that have been on my mind I wonder? Even though it should have been the end of the mourning period," said Setsuko with a somehow lonely seeming smile. "But I had wanted to hold a memorial service. It is such a critical time. I think that I'm fretting over that. Was it the day before yesterday, or the day before that, I wonder? Around that time, you see, I had a very vivid dream. A dream of Nao-chan coming back. It was a happy and sad one, you see."
"At that time when I was doing an examination you hadn't mentioned anything."
"Well it was only a dream. I had forgotten about it until now.
---I was so happy when I'd thought that Nao-chan had come back. But what could I say to her about Mikiyasu and Susumu? Thinking how sad she would be, I felt so badly for her," Setsuko said, her eyes focused on nothing as she blinked. "But, then I suddenly realized that Nao-chan was supposed to have died too, wasn't she? If Nao-chan had returned like that, then Mikiyasu and Susumu will come back too, I realized. Everything was a bad dream, I thought, feeling at peace in my heart, but to think that that was the dream...."
".....Oh."
"I think that Nao-chan had come to welcome me. I wondered if I didn't have much longer myself, like. Did I think that when I awoke, or did I awaken and then thing that,I wonder..."
"You can't do thinking such weak willed thing like that. You've got Tokujirou-san and your other son and all, right?"
"That's right, isn't it?"
While talking, her breath seemed to quicken and shallow as Setsuko nodded.
"It'd be best to get some more sleep. Do you have an appetite?"
"No..."
"For now I'll just bring up some rice gruel, so eat as much as you can. With the drip you might not feel very hungry, but."
Yes, Setsuko nodded. Toshio nudged Seishin and stepped out of the recovery room. With a fleeting glance to Seishin he murmured.
"....Nao-san, eh?"
"Setsuko-san says it's a dream."
"The implications are heavy. Don't you thin? ---We might have to see how Nao-san's doing."
Seishin looked to Toshio's face. "Doing?"
Toshio nodded and answered lowly. "We'll try digging up her grave."
Toshio gave a cynical smile, seeing Seishin at a loss for words.
"If there's a body, no matter how healthy it looks I won't call it a vampir. ---What time're you free?"
"Please, wait a sec..." The phone rang, interrupting Seishin. Toshio picked up the receiver, giving short answered. Seishin too could imagine the topic of an early morning phone call. As expected, when Toshio hung up the receiver, he urged Seishin to head home.
"Seems that Hashimoto-san from Shimo-Sotoba's wife's died. I'm heading out. They'll probably be contacting the temple any time now too."