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Around the middle of winter, the sliding door to the storage room rattles and opens with some difficulty. As very few things back there generate heat, snow often piles up on that area of the roof. The weight of the snow pushes down on the roof, and thus the door. That may be one factor. Why I say "one" is because there is yet another important reason, that being the spirit of the god of grains, having worked outside until the autumn harvest, rests in my storage room in preparation for planting in the coming spring. What was once a humble storage area becomes sacred ground, and one can feel the weight of its divinity holding back the door.

It's just as Lord Daikoku resides in the kitchen, not being confined to a single place, but anywhere food is prepared.

This means that gods aren't just found in objects, but in all sorts of places. However, they do not put any emotion or thought into this notion. There will always be somewhere or someplace for them to live. That is the main difference between gods and youkai, fairies, and ghosts.

"Oh, what's the matter? For someone who always makes a racket misbehaving in my store, you're awfully quiet."

Marisa, clothed in black from head to toe, staggered into the store, making her look even smaller and blacker.

"*cough* Whaddaya mean? I'm always quiet. ...Whew, finally made it."

"Did you catch a cold? You don't look so well. Would you like something warm to drink?"

There was just some hot water boiling in the kettle on the stove, but I poured her a cup.

"Ah, thanks," said Marisa as she sat on a chair.

"If you have a cold, maybe you should've stayed at home instead?"

"Maybe if this was a normal cold, sleepin' would help. *cough cough*"

"So this is an abnormal cold?"

I myself do not catch colds very often. For one thing, it's that my body is resistant to illness, but there is another reason: There are very few diseases that can afflict both youkai and humans. Only humans can suffer from human illnesses, and only youkai can suffer from youkai illnesses. As an aside, most human illnesses are sicknesses of the body, while most youkai illnesses are those of the mind.

In the case of half-human-half-youkai such as myself, they are resistant to both varieties; that's why I can allow Marisa into the store without worrying about contracting her illness.

"I don't even know if this is a cold or what...my whole body just feels heavy."

"I see. Unfortunately, while I'm not especially strong, I don't get sick easily. Even if you tell me what your symptoms are, I won't really know what your problem is."

"Yeah, I know. It's not like I came to ya for a checkup or anythin'...Man. I just got somethin' I wanted ta show ya."

*Knock-knock.*

"Are you here, Rinnosuke? *Cough*"

"Oh, do you have a cold too?"

"I don't know if it's a cold, but it feels like my body doesn't want to move." Upon saying this, she immediately headed straight for the interior of the shop, where there was already another patient asleep.

"Marisa is already sleeping."

"Yes, I imagined she would be feeling ill."

"You're my second patient today. I don't mind though because I don't catch colds easily. Maybe I should become a doctor, too."

"You won't make a profit off it even if you do."

I couldn't tell if she meant that there wouldn't be enough people who trusted me enough for that, or that the residents of Gensokyo rarely need doctors, but I heard that about two years ago a rather skilled physician appeared and her practice is thriving, so I doubt Reimu was referring to the latter.

This skilled physician suddenly appeared in the bamboo forest and is said to treat both humans and youkai alike. If Reimu and Marisa's symptoms get out of hand, maybe it would be best to call her.

But at any rate, why did Reimu come here in such poor condition? I never told them I stocked medicine here, because I rarely ever do.

"*Cough cough* I came to look for something. I want an antique, so I thought Kourindou would be the best place to find one."

"You're just looking for an antique? Maybe you should have come when you were feling better."

"That's not going to happen...If I don't find what I'm looking for, this is only going to get worse."

"You seem to know the reason behind this strange cold."

Reimu explained how the majority of the people living in the human village had already come down with the same symptoms. While they call it a "cold," the coughing isn't as bad, but the body feels lifeless and even walking is a chore. And, this cold is highly contagious.

"*Cough* I'm looking for...something like a small pot...or similar antique - the older, the better."

"A pot? Are you giving up on being a shrine maiden and starting a new religion?"

"But the most important thing is that it must be something without a name. *Cough cough*"

I had only a vague grasp on whatever Reimu was planning. For her to come all the way to my store while ill, and specifically ask for a nameless item...but that reminded me Marisa said she'd wanted to show me something, though since she's sleeping; I suppose it can wait.

"So an antique, and one without a name...it's going to be rather poor quality. Let's see..."

"I thought something at the shrine might work too, but I can't tell what has or hasn't been named yet...*cough cough*" She then added, "because the only one who can truly determine that is you, right?" That made me feel better, and with a slight air of pride, I came back with Reimu's request.

"How about something like this? It's a plate that goes back 300 years from the current age. It was meant to be used, but the quality was so poor that it doesn't seem like it was ever used at all, and because of that, it was never given a particular name."

"Hmm...do you have anything a little older? Like, say, around 1200 years ago...?" Reimu said that having merely glanced at the plate. I got the feeling that the age was the more important factor in her request.

"1200 years? I don't usually have something like that on hand."

"Kourindou is supposed to have everything, isn't it? I want something nameless that's as old as possible." She started to lie down as she complained. I would consider my shop to stock curios and antiques, but I don't think I ever said I have "everything."

But, with my air of pride unable to accept turning down her request, I went to go put away the dish with the other stock I did not want to sell and began looking for something 1200 years old. When I opened the cold, heavy door to the storage room, I began to think of why Reimu needed such a thing.

"Reimu, I couldn't find anything that fit your demands exactly, but would something like this be acceptable?" As I said that, I showed her a flat, triangular, shaped lump about as large as my hand. "This is a fragment of a jar older than 1,000 years, and it has no name." Naturally, a mere fragment has no value as an antique, but as far as objects older than 1,000 years, this is her only option. "However, this is no ordinary fragment; this was originally part of a pot with an interesting purpose, for sealing something within it. I'm sorry I couldn't find anything older, but it's all I could find."

"*Cough cough* That should do just fine. I knew you'd have something, Rinnosuke."

She asked to borrow it for a moment, held it in one hand and a sacred tree branch in the other, and began to murmur. It looked as if she were performing a ritual. I was not expecting this to be her purpose in the least.

"...I hear the voice of the god Tomo-no-Yoshio..."

It appeared that she was actually doing something a shrine maiden would do for once. Perhaps it has something to do with the unusual colds. She finished her simple ritual by placing seals on the fragment, and sighed.

"Whew, now I feel much more relieved. If I take this around the village, that should cure everyone's illnesses."

"Oh. Well, isn't that nice? But I still have absolutely no idea what's been going on. Can you give me some details?"

I wondered if Reimu was already feeling better, as after she finished her mysterious rite and seemed more like her normal self, she began explaining the situation.

"First of all, this is a contagious disease," she began. Similar to a vicious cold, it easily passes between people, and simply being close to someone infected with it will lead to catching it. Endemics of these unexplained illnesses seem to happen once every several years.

It is impossible to limit the spread of contagious diseases by oneself. To completely suppress it, it is necessary to seal the curse god that caused it into something. According to Reimu, the cause of this disease's prevalence is the curse god associated with it running rampant. By finding out which god is doing it, sealing it, and then showing it to those who have been afflicted with the disease, this will give them the belief that they have been cured.

"Gods that need to gather faith choosing to do so in this temporary manner are called 'contagious gods.' In this case, to suppress the illness, we need to fool the god of this illness that into thinking that it has collected faith, and in that way, it will become a real curse god."

"Fool, you say? Fooling a god that has control over disease sounds disastrous."

"This time, I bestowed the role of curse god onto the god Tomo-no-Yoshio. He is a curse god who occasionally deals with plagues."

"That sounds pretty bad, but wasn't he an actual person? If I remember, about twelve hundred years ago--"

"It'll be fine. While there was fear of plagues at first, and the grudge he bears does not seem to have lessened by much, this time he seemed grateful to do any kind of dirty deed, and was quick to say 'if you want me to cure this disease, make me into a curse god or something.' I guess he's been bored lately, so I let him handle it."

I wonder if gods and shrine maidens always have such friendly conversations, but it's a world that only shrine maidens know, being mouthpieces for the gods.

"I wanted something without a name because objects with names already have another god residing in them. Nameless items that are extremely old are the ideal vessels."

"I see now. So you should be able to cure everyone's illness with that? You said they were gathering faith temporarily, so how does curing the illness turn them into a god?"

"Divine spirits of illnesses of the past that no one fears anymore lack the power to do anything. You haven't heard of anyone worshipping Lord Tomo-no-Yoshio as a normal god, right? He didn't even have a shrine built for him. Now that he's sealed in this fragment, I'll ultimately throw him away at Muenzuka."

"The way you're saying that, like gods are disposable, is rather cruel."

"That's the fate of these contagious gods. Just forgetting about them is the best thing for us humans. But still, Lord Tomo-no-Yoshio was supposed to have already been sealed, so why did he seem bored?"

"Hey, I'm feelin' pretty good now." Sitting up in bed, Marisa wedged herself into our conversation. "I mighta looked like I was sleepin', but I heard what Reimu was talkin' about. Somethin' about the disease comin' from a spirit?"

"I didn't say that, I said it came from a god."

Saying "Well, that's what it sounded like ta me," she reached into her hat, and took out a small old plate. "I thought I'd come by and give ya a look at this today, Kourin. But the thing is, ever since I picked it up, I've been feelin' pretty bad."

"That's another old plate. It seems to have quite a history..."

"I took it 'cause I thought it'd be worth somethin', but all of a sudden I felt horrible for some reason. I wanted ta see ya so ya could give me a second opinion."

"Hmm, it doesn't look like it was given a name. Unfortunately, I doubt it's worth a great deal, but what I can say for sure is that it's rare to see something so old."

Reimu inspected the plate and a curious expression appeared on her face.

"Um...where exactly did you find this plate?"

"Funny thing is, when I first found it, it had these dirty seals all over it, so I thought I'd clean it up; that's when I started feelin' sick."

I heard the sound of snow falling off the roof. How long had passed since Reimu began lecturing Marisa? I get the feeling she had already repeated herself three times by now.

"I'd think you'd know that if you found something that's been sealed, that you don't take them off! You found that plate at Muenzuka, didn't you?! You had no idea what might have been sealed inside!"

"How's yer average human s'ppose'ta know a contagious god was sealed inside? Why'd ya throw somethin' like that out, anyway?"

"It's important to put it somewhere away from the village until the contagious god has lost all its faith! The reason why everyone is sick is because YOU went to Muenzuka, found that plate, and removed its seals! You realize that, right? Now I know why Lord Tomo-no-Yoshio seemed so bored - it was because of you breaking the seal!"

"Keep your voice down, will ya? I'm still tryin' ta get over a cold."

"Thanks to your foolish actions, now I'm going to have to go around to every house in the village, one by one."

The image of Reimu visiting each house trying to gather faith for the curse god to cure the epidemic was rather amusing, but I was still skeptical of whether that would truly work. If sealing a curse god is how illnesses are cured, I have the feeling that doesn't explain the reason why I don't fall ill easily, nor why youkai and humans are susceptible to different sicknesses.

The physician who appeared in the bamboo forest doesn't need to commune with the gods to heal disease, but rather uses more advanced procedures. Using implements no one has seen before, taking pictures of the inside of the body, even exchanging useless parts of the body for working replacements.

However, I still hold some doubt, as I have not seen these for myself, but if it is true, then the bamboo forest physician is likely an intellectual who started her practice here after lamenting over the condition of medical care in Gensokyo.

She may even be from the outside world.

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