Chapter 168: The Whole School is Sick, About to Rot Away

[June 1, 1869. Mr. Thorson took the good children—those who learned English and history quickly—to the church for baptism. When the children returned, they showed varying degrees of listlessness and chills, which the teachers attributed to exhaustion from the journey.]

[June 2. The children developed high fevers and fell into a strange state of excitement, unable to sleep. Some began to hallucinate, seeing incomprehensible sights and muttering gibberish. After consulting various texts, the teachers identified it as an infectious disease called "Insomnia." Those infected are unable to sleep at all; instead, they dream while wide awake and develop dirt-like smudges on their bodies.]

[The teachers found smudges of various sizes and shapes in different places on the sick children's bodies, confirming the arrival of the terrible plague known as "Insomnia." Even among the children who hadn't yet shown symptoms, a few had clumps of dirt on their ankles. Strangely, the disease seemed to spread only among the indigenous children; none of the other teachers, aside from Ms. Medina, were affected.]

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