The Isle of South Kamui and Other Stories Read Online Free PDF Page B

of nausea and strove to maintain an outward show of calm. In order to manage this, I secretly injected myself with a stimulant.
    If the islanders found out I was ill, they would realize that I was the one who had brought the infection, and that could well lead to my death.
    As the news about the contagion spread, the islanders began to gather around the inn. At first I saw a few figures standing there and assumed they must be concerned family members of the five patients. However, their number gradually increased, and by the afternoon almost all the island’s three hundred or so inhabitants were there. The elderly, the young, and the children were there. Even a baby came, carried on its mother’s back.
    They did not shout or cry out, but just silently surrounded the inn. Even after one or two hours had passed, they showed no inclination to leave. A few squatted down, but otherwise the wall of people standing there remained unbroken. There was barely any expression on those uniformly suntanned faces, and I had no idea what they were thinking.
    â€œWhat the hell are they looking at?” I asked the officer with a frown. Being watched was not exactly pleasant, especially given the weight on my conscience.
    â€œEveryone is worried,” he replied.
    â€œBut,” I glanced at the wall of people, “it’s not going to help at all. How about they go home and get on with their usual routine?”
    â€œI don’t think anyone feels like doing that. For everyone here, it’s as if we all belong to one big family. That’s why they are gathering.”
    The officer’s face showed that he thought it was proper for them to do so. The phrase “a shared fate” flitted across the back of my mind. I was being monitored by a large family group of some three hundred people. As I gazed at the thick cordon of people, I realized my own carelessness, and once again felt dismayed.
    It was that woman Otaki. When she stood looking at me through the glass door of the dispensary, she must have seen the red spots that had emerged on my body. She also probably saw the cat’s dead body. If she had spoken to anyone else about that, then it would certainly have spread amongst all the people gathered here now.
    I could not make out Otaki among them. The feeling of unease would not go away. I was gripped by the anxiety that the entire island knew that I was sick too, and the fear that they may know that I was guilty of causing the epidemic. I even began to feel that the people forming the cordon were not worried about the five patients, but were observing me alone. Before coming to the island I had thought the population of three hundred and forty-six was inordinately low, but now that I was surrounded by such a large group of people I felt overwhelmed by them.
    As sunset approached, the wind picked up. Just then the ship bringing the serum from the main island finally arrived.
    I went with the officer to the wharf to collect it. The islanders followed in droves at a set distance, and watched as I took the box containing the serum. I did not complain to the officer about them again. After all, he was one of them.
    As expected, there were only five doses of serum. I stared at the five ampoules in the box and once again thought how this would signify the death of one human being—of someone other than myself, naturally.
    The westering sun had become a huge scarlet ball of fire that quivered as it began to sink below the horizon, staining the landscape red as it went down. When I had first arrived on the island the beauty of the setting sun had taken my breath away, but now the same scene was ominous and creepy.
    On the way back to the inn, I surreptitiously slipped one of the ampoules of serum into my shirt pocket unseen by the officer. At that moment, I condemned to death one of the patients asleep in the inn, but I tried not to think about that. The sun went down and a cool breeze blew up from the sea,