“‘Me, go over there? To a place that has nothing but forests and plains and craggy mountains? A place where the earth is so soaked with blood that not a grain of wheat will grow, where the wells and rivers were poisoned to kill the invading enemies and now not a single fish swims? The people sing curses, and the place has shut out everything, even the sun. No, I needn’t go there, Takako. He will come here. He will honor us by coming here. He will brave the treacherous seas and come to this country whose people are vibrant with the hot blood that flows through them. Listen carefully, Takako. He is a magnificent man. No, he may have transcended humanity. You are aware of my condition—that my body, my heart, and liver are tattered and weak like old rags. Dad and Mom have hidden it from you, but I’m expected to live only three more years at most. Don’t look so sad. You’re the only one who feels sad for me. You’ve always been a kind girl. But there’s no need to worry. I’m not going to die. Even after fifty years or a hundred, I will be alive. More or less as you see me now. I can see you don’t believe me. It’s no wonder. But it’s true. He told me everything. And he will come from the other side of the ocean to give me the safe life he enjoys. Ohh, Transylvania is a most mysterious place! And a prince of that area will grace us with his presence. What a great honor for this country!’
“Ohh, you should have seen his eyes glaring at me. Why did his eyes look so red like burning coals? Why did he lick his lips as he stared at my throat? I’m surprised I didn’t faint right then and there.” Takako started to tremble just thinking about what had happened.
Resting a reassuring hand on Takako’s shoulder, Chizuru asked, “Have you seen this man from Transylvania?”
“No, I haven’t,” replied Takako, shaking her head. “But last month around the twentieth, my brother was shut inside his room all day mumbling something like he was delirious from fever. Luckily, I was able to hear him through the crack in the door.
“‘Tonight is the night. When everyone has gone to sleep, when the heart beats quietly and the blood starts to flow coldly, he will come.’
“Even though I’d become used to his odd way of talking, he was so frightening then that I decided to stand watch outside his room.”
Takako had been afraid that her brother had been deceived by some bad men and that they were going to descend upon the house. Not only that, this mysterious man was supposed to arrive that very night.
She had been watching her brother’s room after everyone in the house had gone to sleep. Soon after the clock had struck midnight, she had spied her brother wearing a black hat and cloak emerge from the room and go around the back exit of the courtyard.
By the time Takako had gone around back, the sound of the horses and coach was receding.
“He probably hired the coach and arranged it so the driver would be waiting at that precise time. When I returned to my room, I fell asleep; and when I woke up, the sun had already risen. I went to my brother’s room in the courtyard and heard loud snoring from behind the shutters, so I knew that he had come home safely. But I still don’t know where he had gone or what he had seen that night.”
“Was there any sign of the mysterious man inside your brother’s room?”
“Not at all. I knew it was wrong, but I went into his room after he left. But there was no sign of anyone.”
So Count Dracula must be hiding somewhere else. Wherever he was, it seemed clear that Takako’s brother, Renta, who was free to do anything he wanted with his time, had been doing Count Dracula’s bidding.
Considering the family business, he probably had numerous properties and vacant houses available to use as a hideout. It would have been easy for Renta to hide a foreign guest.
It was also clear that Renta had been the one to greet the arrival of this mysterious man and that he had most likely been possessed by him. That Renta moved around only at night was proof of that.
“I’m glad you came, Takako-san,” Chizuru said gently to Takako, who looked relieved after telling her story. “Even though Akane wasn’t here to see you, I think she would be happy to hear that you came to confide in her. You may have very well saved the lives of everyone in Tokyo—no, maybe everyone in the country. Takako-san, I recently heard from a doctor about a terrible disease, which spread here from Europe. The doctor told me to keep it a secret, but anyone with the disease becomes vulnerable to the sun. So they shut themselves behind closed curtains and shutters and come out only at night and live as they normally would until the sun comes up. They get weaker as time goes on and eventually die. The only treatment is to keep them locked in day and night and to give them lots of garlicky dishes to eat.”
Takako turned blue. While she may not have believed just anyone, Takako trusted Akane’s older sister, who, though reserved and kind-hearted, had always been strong. And here she was telling her about some strange foreign disease.
In that age before e-mail, television news, and international phone calls, when only twenty years had passed since Japan had first established communication with the West, to most people, foreign countries were unfamiliar, frightening places.
“So… my brother has the disease?”
“I’m sure of it.” Although Chizuru felt sorry to do it, she answered her bluntly. “I’ll go to the doctor right away and tell him about your brother. You should go home and wait for him there.”
“All right.” Takako nodded.
“And one more thing. You’ll have to nail shut the windows of your brother’s room, rub garlic over the doors, and keep your brother from getting out. If your parents object, tell them that I—no, tell them that Kashiwabara Isanosuke of Renbei-jyuku told you to do it.”
Again, Takako nodded. Renbei-jyuku was a name that had some influence in Tokyo. There was no name more likely to convince her parents.
“I’ll do exactly as you say,” Takako promised, then she left.
Chizuru sent the butler to call for a carriage.
“I’m going to Kôdôkan to see Sensei Kanô.”
Then her heart began to beat faster, as if to alert her to the important meeting she was about to have.