Toccata

• Author: さそうあきら / Saso Akira
• Nationality: 日本 / Japan
• Date: 2020.8.3

p.1
[Read from top-right. Panel1] “Please let me out.”
[Panel2] “My temperature is normal. I’m not in pain, and food tastes fine.”
[Panel3] “We suspect you are asymptomatically infectious.”
[Panel4] “23 people who have been in contact with you have confirmed infections.” “It was Suzuki Toko. Definitely the Suzuki virus!”

p.2
[Panel1] “Suzuki virus has been classified as a type two infection by the Ministry of Health.”
[Panel2] “We need to investigate the source of transmission.”
[Panel3] “Many people have testified that they caught it from you.”
[Panel4] “Suzuki Virus!!” Eeeek!
[Palel5] “Suzuki Toko touched me. So, I thought I’d be in danger if I didn’t pass it on.”
[Panel6] “Do you know what she does during lunch break? Eats her lunch in the bathroom. Disgusting, isn’t it?”

p.3
[Panel1] “Miyase Yuri is your friend, isn’t she?” “I haven’t done anything to Yuri.”
[Panel2] “We have testimony that you lent her a Virginia Woolf novel.”
[Panel4] “Miss Miyase made dumplings with her family when she returned home. There was a terrible outbreak.”
[Panel5] “All seven family members were hospitalized. Her grandmother is seriously ill.” “Ahh…” [Panel6] “That’s Suzuki Shuko’s fault.”

p.4
[Panel1] “Miss Suzuki is in the neighbouring ward. On the top floor, under isolation and investigation.”
[Panel2] “I haven’t even touched a few people.” “Please recall what you did after school in detail.”
[Panel3] “…”
[Panel4] “Pompondahlia, is a cake shop I often go to. The owner’s little girl Rumi was crying…”
[Panel5] “I got her shuttlecock down from a tree for her.” “Indeed.”
[Panel6] “The Pompondahlia family and their 5 part-time staff were all admitted to hospital.”

p.5
[Panle1] “The old lady from Marusho has a bad back. So I always give her a back rub.”
[Panel2] “I always do that for her. Fortunately the old lady who owns Marusho grocery is only mildly ill.”
[Panel3] “I went home and made rice balls for my little brother with smoked pickled radish in them…”
[Panel4] “My brother is much younger. My cute, so very cute, little angel.”
[Panel5] “All of your family members are receiving generous medical treatment. It”s alright.”

p.6
[Panel1] “As for you, do you suppose you’re immune to Suzuki virus?”
[Panel2] “Because we’re childhood friends?”
[Panel4] “When I became friends with Yuri in high school, she’d hang around us, always hovering nearby.”
[Panel5] “I was supposed to lend Yuri the Virginia Woolf book but that pest lent it to her first.”
[Panel6] “Isn’t that annoying?”

p.7
[Panel1] “So, that was it. That’s how it was.”
[Panel1-2] “We wanted to hear it from you.”
[Panel2-3] “Thank you.”
[Panel4] “Ah, according to this information we’ve just received, Suzuki’s tests came back negative.”
[Panel7] “……”

p.8
[Panel5] “The tears I shed at the Institute of Infectious Disease were examined in 5 different ways.”
[Panel6] “They were positive.”
(Translated by Cathy Sell)