I’m not a huge fan of the horror genre – in part because I am a big sissy. Actually, that’s the whole reason why. I, Hounddog, am a total scaredy cat and I don’t care who knows it. And let me tell you, after this episode…I’ll probably have to sleep with the lights on for a few days.

Oh, sure, it starts out pretty normal. A dead bug on the ground. Kaori and her brother eating watermelon (who, by the way, has the whole thing figured out, but since he’s like 8 years old no one will listen to him). Some flashbacks. More deaths (including that sweet, earnest policeman from the first episode, which is kinda sad). Yuuki walking around looking angsty. Standard fare at this point.

And then…AND THEN…a dream sequence. Or is it a dream sequence? It could be reality! A scary, horrifying reality! Megumi shows up outside Yuuki’s window, all red-eyed and scary looking and the music gets all…scary.

Then there’s a nice scene at a lunch counter where Ritsu and some guy talk about the rash of people leaving in the middle of the night. So far, they’ve both noticed that the people who have left used a truck with “Takasago Matsu” on the side – which is what the truck that the Kanemasa people used to move in looked like. Intriguing, but not scary. I dig it.

Dr. Toshio tries to revive Susumu, son of his friend, but sadly he’s not able to help despite his best efforts and the kid’s grandpa’s epic moustache. Worse news – his friend appears to be sick, too. This won’t end well.

THEN MEGUMI IS AT YUUKI’S WINDOW AGAIN. But he wakes up. But there she is AGAIN! But he wakes up. There is only so much of this I can take!!!

Pause here for a long, sort of uncomfortable scene between Supermonk and the creepy little girl, Sunako. Supermonk is kind of depressed about all the dying (you’d think a rash of sudden death would be economically positive for the guy, presuming they pay him for all those funerals). She is so weird and absolutely not child-like. Also, the lack of iris in her eyes make it look like she dug them out and just has deep, empty pits where they used to be. Gross. Also…scary.

Then Yuuki decides to get on a bus and go…somewhere. School, maybe? This was the only scene in the whole episode where I didn’t feel sad or scared, because when he runs he looks like such a doofus and that makes me chuckle.

Meanwhile, the Doc calls a meeting with all the clinic staff and some strange music starts to play (have we been transported to a dance party?). They toss around a bunch of medical words and look very concerned, but in the end no one volunteers the idea “demon vampire things have moved to town and are using us like a buffet,” so we know all their theories are silly and wrong. Take that, medical degree!

As all this is happening, Yuuki is on the bus – leeching off their sweet party music, what a punk – and of course he falls asleep. And dreams of Megumi, who, by the way, is ON THE BUS. Except she’s really not. At least that’s what I think happened, I had my head under the blanket by this point. Yikes.

When he gets off the bus, Yuuki does what anyone who was having a rough day would do…runs to his boyfriend. Toru is happy to see him and jumps at the idea of having him sleep over again…if you know what I mean! Turns out, there’s something of a party going on at his house and a bunch of other young people are there.

But our young love birds don’t care about them, they want to be alone. And then Toru drops a total buzzkill when he admits he wants to ask Ritsu out, but he’s scared and needs Yuuki’s support when he does, and Yuuki pretends that his little heart isn’t breaking and says he will. At which point they wrestle a bit. Mmmhmm. I said wrestle.

Toru is a chaste lad, and also thinks ahead, so he’s got a little futon on the floor all ready for Yuuki. Except guess who shows up? Even worse (for me) was that the art got really interesting at this point so I couldn’t look away even though I wanted to. Desperately.

Anyway, what Yuuki thinks is Megumi is actually some girl named Aoi. BUT THEN THERE’S MEGUMI UNDER THE BED. I about jumped out of my skin, and then it got worse as she does a weird upsidedown, bone-cracky shimmy sort of thing in order to stand in front of him.

She notices Toru on the bed and is immediately enraged, because Yuuki likes him better. And then, in a twist that I’m sure didn’t surprise anyone, she extends her enormous vampire teeth and prepares to drink his blood and, presumably, murder him.

So…wow. Suddenly our little Shiki is growing some teeth, no pun intended (ok, intended a little bit). I guess this is good news; the series is upping the ante and demanding that viewers take it seriously. But I’m concerned that Shiki won’t be able to keep up the current tone and intensity, that it will slip backwards into silliness and settle for being just another goofy anime. I’m also concerned that it will continue to be scary – or get scarier – in which case I’m going to need to work on my mental fortitude because I cannot be hiding like a ninny every week. (Wait. What was that? Did you hear that? HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE?!)

Something to ponder this week: was it just because I was too scared to be annoyed, or were Yuuki and Megumi actually…how to word this…bearable in this episode?