294 – Exorcism
After leaving the gym, instead of heading straight home, I stopped at a nearby convenience store and bought a bunch of energy drinks.
“It’s 1200 yen all together.”
Brush-
I grabbed a plastic bag filled with drinks and immediately opened a can to wash away any tiredness.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
“Whoa!”
Now I will live a little.
Perhaps it was because I couldn’t sleep last night because I had nightmares that I couldn’t even imagine, but I wasn’t feeling very well.
‘It’s just embarrassing to have a nightmare on an important day.’
As I uncapped another energy drink, alerted by the mighty caffeine power, I remembered the rough outline of tonight’s exorcism ritual.
The moment the total lunar eclipse begins, the nether gates connected to the underworld are opened, and then eight thunder gods from eight shrines spread across the country ascend to the sky with ghosts roaming the Japanese archipelago attached to their bodies.
“Izanami-no-Mikoto-sama, who created the Japanese archipelago, felt the need to manage the ghosts that began to overflow in a small land mass as humans gained power, and Fushiikazuchinokami-sama, who was ordered by him, We hold a ritual to ward off evil once in a while and force the spirits of the earth who couldn’t go to the nether world to become Buddhas. It is the women of the Mizuki family who have helped with that and performed rites to ward off evil from generation to generation.”
According to Kozue’s explanation, it seems that by performing this ritual, the yin energy that filled the Japanese archipelago must be periodically removed so that the yōkai that have survived to the present day do not run amok.
‘The scale of the story is unnecessarily large.’
Usually, when this kind of material comes out in a love comedy, it’s normal for it to appear briefly and then disappear, but no matter how you think about it, it’s a very serious atmosphere, so it’s crazy! Won! Part 3 is over! It seemed that the same development would not come out.
‘… Ha, I can’t help it.’
After all, no one knows what the future holds.
I decided that for now it was best to do what I could, so I decided to spend some time at home drinking energy drinks until the promised time.
***
6 P.M.
I met Ryuji and his party in front of the stairs of the shrine where we met after taking a sufficient rest while riding the Golden Samurai at home.
“You’re here.”
Ryuji spotted me approaching from afar and lightly waved his hand.
“Why did you come out so soon?”
“It’s just that the thought of breaking up with Chiaki made me a bit confused.”
After saying that, Ryuji laughed bitterly and started going up the stairs, saying that he would go first.
Thanks to that, only me, Chiaki, and Mahes were left in front of the stairs.
“I’m worried about the contractor, so I’ll follow you.”
With even Mahesu leaving the place like that, all that’s left is Chiaki and me.
An awkward atmosphere flowing between me and her.
Thinking that today was the last day she met Chiaki, her mind was blank and she couldn’t think of anything to say.
I licked my lips several times to say something, but soon I brought up a story without any context.
“Isn’t the weather nice today?”
Then Chiaki awkwardly nodded her head.
「Yes, it is already night.」
“…….”
I want to die.
I was twisting around like an adolescent boy in agony at the belated embarrassment.
“Do you really intend to become a Buddha?”
I had already heard her thoughts through Ryuji’s mouth, but I wanted to hear it directly from her mouth right in front of my eyes.
If she ever changed her mind, I was willing to do anything for her.
But she said with a resigned smile on her lips, as if Chiaki’s determination hadn’t changed.
「If I continue to remain in this world like this, I will be a nuisance to Ryuji and the people around her. And that wish has already come true.”
The wish of Chiaki, who was Jibak-ryeong, was ‘to meet Ryuji once again, whom she broke up with when she was young’.
And that wish came true just as Chiaki said.
Because I brought her to her Tokyo.
But she didn’t reach Buddhahood, and she was still with Ryuji.
Seeing that, Fuma-senpai said that she had a new wish, but she thought maybe her new wish wasn’t ‘I want to be with Ryuji’.
After spending her whole life in pain at her young age, she was alone even after her death, confined to a mountain villa for a long time.
She didn’t express it outwardly, but she must have had a lot of resentment in many ways.
“…….”
I involuntarily looked at Chiaki, who couldn’t honestly express her desires, with a pitying eye.
Then, as if Chiaki noticed her feelings, he came closer to her and punched her in my chest with her fist.
「Don’t make that face. She doesn’t want to be sympathized with, at least from you, her friend.”
“But…”
「Thanks to you bringing me to Tokyo, I have been through a lot. I met Ryuji, whom I wanted to meet so much, went to school for the first time in her life, and got to know many people including Mahes. Of course, as a ghost, I wouldn’t have been seen by the other children, but I feel like I’ve made a lot of friends, so that’s okay.”
Chiaki said that and put her hands behind her back.
「Of course, if you stay by Ryuji’s side like this, you’ll be able to make more memories. But I don’t want Ryuji to die because of me, or to be a nuisance to you again. Isn’t it like being a parasite on other people’s lives for the rest of your life? After living so far away, I will attain Buddhahood when I can attain Buddhahood.”
“…Chiaki.”
「Then, this is the end. The goodbyes are over, so let’s go up.”
As if to cut off her lingering attachments, I silently followed her up the stairs while watching Chiaki’s back as she turned her back.
***
【Are you finally here?】
Muttered that huge snake coiled around the orange shrine grounds.
“Hello.”
It looks exactly the same as the last time I saw it at the shrine.
Even his current form may not be his original form, but his dignity as a god was fully felt.
【Looks like you’ve already made up your mind. My eyes are better than before.]
After staring at Chiaki standing next to me with vertically slit pupils, Shiikazuchinokami said that and then raised her triangular head to the sky.
【The moon will rise soon. At that time, the ghosts who have not attained Buddhahood and wandered the earth will begin to gather around the shrine, so don’t be too afraid.]
「Yes.」
It seemed that there was still about an hour left before the ceremony began in earnest, so I took advantage of the short break and contacted her mother saying that I would be coming home late today.
After talking on the phone like that, I looked up at the sky, and before I knew it, the sky had turned black.
And then, in the night sky, things that looked like white fireworks began to bloom one by one.
“Dokkaebi fire?”
Maybe he had the same thoughts as me.
「The human soul.」
In the meantime, like the stars in the night sky, the white fireworks began to grow endlessly.
10, 100, 1000, 10000…
The sight of countless fireworks floating in the night sky was like looking at the Milky Way.
“Isn’t that invisible to the common eye?”
Today, Kozue, dressed in a neat shrine maiden’s attire, quietly nodded in response to my question.
“Yes. It will not be visible unless you have a spiritual eye, so don’t worry.”
Three years have already passed since I possessed Kim Yoo-seong’s body, but I never thought that something so unrealistic would be happening nearby.
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Then, as the moon hung high in the sky, Kozue, who had been waiting for the time in an upright position, slowly rose from her seat.
In both of her hands, she was holding a gohei and a bell, which seemed to be used in rituals to ward off evil.
She chanted as we watched as we walked to the prepared altar in the shrine grounds.
“The great Amatsukami who dwell in Takamagahara, the Yomotsu Okami who decides the rise and fall of mankind, I beg you to pay tribute to these insignificant beings. Please, please open the door to the Nether.”
Jingle!
The clear sound of bells echoes around.
Jingle!
The white paper at the end of the gohei fluttered in the breeze.
Jingle!
To the kagura danced by Kozue, countless fireworks floating in the sky start spinning in circles.
Jingle!
It was truly a spectacle to see the living and the dead dancing in harmony under the big moon.
「It’s pretty….”
“…Yes, it really is.”
After Kozue’s kagura, which lasted for about 20 minutes, was over, Shii Kazuchino Kami opened her mouth after watching her in front of the altar.
【Then, I will begin the ritual to ward off evil from now on.】
As soon as the words are finished,
After that, Shii Kazuchino Kami sheds her serpentine skin, returning to the form of a gigantic god enshrouded in her black mist.