Chapter 175: Chapter 174: So Hungry
(The previous Chapter’s title seems to have been censored, so I can only fix it after the holiday...)
~
"Grandma Mikiko, what nonsense are you spouting?" Sato yanked his arm back from her grasp, wincing in pain.
A closer look revealed his arm was already bruised from her grip.
’These goddamn old fossils are getting way too arrogant,’ Sato thought. ’Yesterday, they were practically corpses in their beds, and now that they’re a little better, they’ve forgotten all their manners.’
’They don’t even stop to think who gave them this new lease on life. It’s because of useless old bastards like these that Japan is going down the drain.’
Mikiko seemed completely oblivious to Sato’s anger, still giggling as she said:
"Sato, I’m sorry. I know this is wrong, but you just smell so delicious... I... I couldn’t help myself..."
As she spoke, she slurped audibly and stuck out a long tongue to lick her lips.
Her tongue was bright red and long, like a snake’s.
Several other elderly people nearby nodded in agreement. They grabbed various parts of Sato’s body, their eyes filled with a mixture of apology and greed, and said:
"Sato, we... we really can’t hold back..."
With that, they began to pull violently at Sato’s body, as if trying to rip the flesh from his bones!
Sato finally realized something was terribly wrong. He struggled to break free, but their strength was immense. It was impossible to escape!
All twenty of the elderly residents present swarmed him, their hands reaching out!
He was about to scream when a withered old man clamped a hand over his mouth. The man’s strength was incredible, covering Sato’s mouth and nose so completely he couldn’t even make a sound.
He suddenly recognized the look in the eyes of these seemingly gentle old people—the same greedy, savage glint he had once seen in the eyes of carnivores at the zoo as they devoured their meat!
"Everyone... SLURP... everyone, don’t be hasty... SLURP..." a distinguished-looking old man said.
He was a former company president named Tokugawa. He clearly held considerable sway among the residents, as they immediately stopped what they were doing at his word.
Tears nearly streamed from Sato Ken’s eyes. Though unable to speak with his mouth and nose covered, he nodded desperately, looking at Tokugawa with eyes full of hope.
Tokugawa’s expression was grave as he spoke with great solemnity:
"If we are to eat meat, we should eat it cooked. There’s no reason to eat it raw... I say we prepare it in the back kitchen. It’s five in the morning now. We should finish before the caregivers arrive at seven-thirty. Shimada, you used to be a chef. You’ll be in charge of the cooking. The rest of you will assist."
The crowd of elders immediately replied with delight:
"Mr. Tokugawa is as perceptive as ever!"
"How shameful, how shameful. We nearly became savages, eating raw flesh and blood. Thank goodness for Mr. Tokugawa’s reminder."
"Yes, yes. As men of the Showa era, we must act like it. How could we abandon basic etiquette?"
"Hehe, this is the true way of gastronomy."
"..."
Sato Ken could hardly believe his ears. These people were discussing something as horrifying as cannibalism with the same polite decorum as if they were planning a tea party.
He struggled for air, but he couldn’t break free from the grip of even a single one of the elders.
Their strength was greater than that of a grown man... no, greater than a wild beast’s. Within their withered arms, faint gray-black lines seemed to trace along their blood vessels.
And their gentle, refined smiles, combined with the "SLURP SLURP" of their salivating, made them all the more sinister and terrifying!
On the verge of losing consciousness from suffocation, he felt himself being lifted by many hands and carried away. From the direction, it seemed they were heading to the back kitchen.
A cold sensation on his back shocked Sato into awareness. He saw that he had been gently placed on a table in the back kitchen. Old man Shimada was approaching him, a sharp knife in hand. With a serious expression, he plunged it into Sato’s chest, instantly piercing his heart!
Sato’s body convulsed and struggled, but his pupils soon dilated, and he fell completely silent.
Even when it was unbearable, they restrained themselves with their last vestiges of reason for the sake of the group. This was the collective spirit of that generation of Japanese, now on full and vivid display.
Under Shimada’s direction, the group transformed into a friendly, loving collective, working in concert. Before long, the aroma of simmering stew drifted from the back kitchen, accompanied by the sounds of laughter and cheerful chatter.
Two hours later, everything in the kitchen had been cleaned up. The gnawed-on bones were carefully sorted, ready to be thrown out with the classified trash on garbage day.
The elders even began to clean the nursing home, help some of the weaker residents with their physical therapy, and so on. Everything became neat and orderly.
When Matsui Mei, a nurse at the Ota Elderly Care Home, arrived for her shift, she was greeted by this joyous and amicable scene. It was as if the care home had been rejuvenated, blooming with youth and vitality once more.
The sudden recovery of the critical patients, in particular, was a cause for universal celebration.
The caregivers and doctors arriving for their shifts were utterly stunned by the scene. They didn’t understand why the elders who had been like wooden puppets in their beds yesterday were now more energetic than young people, but that didn’t stop them from marveling at the sight.
"A miracle! This is an absolute medical miracle!" Dr. Yamamoto exclaimed in shock, his eyes filled with delight.
As the resident physician at the Ota Elderly Care Home, he knew all too well what this meant.
He didn’t know why Parkinson’s syndrome could be cured so quickly, but he understood that if he could figure out what had happened here, winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine would be a piece of cake!
This was a blessing for all of Japan... no, for all of human civilization!
With this in mind, he prepared to draw blood from the elders immediately to test it and see what had happened to them.
"Who was on duty last night? Sato Ken? Where did that kid run off to? Why haven’t I seen him?" Dr. Yamamoto asked with a frown.
He had never been particularly fond of Sato Ken.
A young man in his twenties should be dedicating himself to society, but all he did was mope around and complain every day. He was a hard person to like.
He asked around, but no one had seen Sato Ken. Apparently, the kid had snuck off again.
There was just no helping him...
"Dr. Yamamoto, this is the daikon and bone soup that Mr. Shimada and the others made. It smells wonderful. A nice hot bowl will really warm you up," the young nurse, Matsui Mei, said with a smile as she brought him a bowl of soup.
The caregivers who had just started their shifts were each given a bowl of soup.
It was now autumn, and the wind was getting colder. Drinking a hot bowl of daikon and bone soup was indeed very comforting.
"Thank you, Mr. Shimada. You really shouldn’t have gone to the trouble!" Dr. Yamamoto took the bowl, drank it with a smile, and felt a warmth spread through his body, putting him at ease.
’What a fine soup.’
Watching the caregivers and doctors drink their soup, the elders standing by couldn’t help but reveal kind and amiable smiles.
Just moments before, Tokugawa himself had added an anesthetic to the soup—enough to render a hundred people unconscious.
"SLURP..."
The sound of swallowing saliva could be heard from time to time.
’Drink up, drink up. Getting nice and warm will relax the muscles. An old person’s teeth aren’t what they used to be, after all...’
"SLURP..."
’I think I’m getting hungry again... The smell of flesh and blood... it’s so fragrant...’
Just then, from the surrounding rooms, more and more elderly residents began to emerge.
Their bodies had once been frail, but now they moved with an agility that seemed to match Tokugawa, Shimada, and the others.
It wasn’t so much the sounds from outside that drew them as it was the aroma.
Watching the doctors and caregivers drinking the soup, the elders began to gulp down their saliva, making "SLURP SLURP" sounds.
’So fragrant...’
’I’m so hungry...’
’Why am I so hungry...’
’It seems only eating meat brings joy and satisfaction...’
’We gave our youth, our blood and sweat, for this country, and now these young people have all become useless layabouts with no ambition. It’s truly a tragedy... Instead of letting them live such incompetent lives, it’s better to have them dedicate their meaningless existence to the elders...’
’So fragrant...’
By now, Dr. Yamamoto had finished his soup. He finally noticed that more and more elders were gathering around. It seemed as if every resident in the entire nursing home had come out, all watching them with gentle smiles.
But saliva seemed to be dribbling from the corners of their mouths, and they were constantly slurping it back in.
He finally sensed that something was wrong and asked:
"Mr. Tokugawa, what is all this...?"
Before he could finish his sentence, the surrounding elders swarmed forward, overpowering the dozen or so doctors and caregivers with beast-like strength!
As they watched in terror, the door to the back kitchen swung open...
The aroma of stewed meat filled the nursing home, creating a peaceful atmosphere.
’But... still so hungry...’
The eyes of the original twenty, including Tokugawa and Shimada, were now blood-red and webbed with veins, as if they hadn’t slept in days.
Yet they still acted with perfect courtesy. Aside from the slightly exaggerated smiles on their faces, there was nothing much amiss.
"So hungry... want meat... want meat..." Shimada mumbled. His stomach, which had been slightly distended just moments ago, was already flat again from his rapid digestion.
"Mr. Tokugawa, what should we do? I’m so hungry... so hungry..." Mikiko asked, her gaze unfocused and bewildered.
Veins bulged on Tokugawa’s forehead. His expression was grim as he said:
"Since everyone is hungry, let’s go out and find some meat. We’ve sacrificed so much for this country; we can’t let ourselves go hungry. Let’s go... find meat... Be sure to lock the doors, so no thieves get in."
"Mr. Tokugawa, there was some kitchen waste. Today is garbage day. I suggest we sort the trash properly for recycling," Shimada proposed.
"Excellent. We must not harm the public virtue of this society. We must set an example for the youth." Tokugawa nodded solemnly, the veins on his face becoming more prominent. "At no time can we do anything to damage public virtue."
Nearly a hundred elders nodded in unison. After tidying up, they filed out of the nursing home and onto the street, beginning their search for new food.
’So hungry...’