Oguri Island Pier.

Kamiyagawa got off the ferry, and the bumpy sea journey that lasted for several hours made his face not look very good.

Standing on the shore and taking a few deep breaths with Moo's Breath, the fresh and fishy coastal air poured into my lungs and slowly eased up.

"On the sea, I obviously saw that Oguri Island was close in front of me, but it took me several hours to arrive by boat, which was too torturous."

By boat, it looks like it's close to the destination, but it actually takes a long time.

The ferry that Kamiya River took in the afternoon actually arrived at Oguri Island, and it was already dusk.

You can see that the sun has become half to the distant sea and sky, reflecting the dim sea in the distance.

A few seabirds of unknown species, carrying the sunset on their backs, with a faint light between their feathers, rushed into the forest of the island and disappeared without a trace.

On the edge of the pier, there is a fishing boat moored.

It looks like he just came back from a trip to sea.

Several sailors in leather aprons are carrying the ship's catch to shore in large red and blue plastic baskets.

Star bonito, Yin Zuomu, Jinshi, flying fish, stone sea bream, flat sea bream......

Fish of different sizes, colors, and species are tired in plastic baskets, about five or six baskets.

There are quite a few fish that look like they have been dead for a long time and have a strong fishy smell.

On the side of the fishing boat, a man who looked like a captain, forty or fifty years old, with a wrinkled face, was talking to someone.

"Captain Iwashita, this trip to the sea, just caught so much and came back? And it seems that more than half of it is not fresh. ”

"There's no way, I can catch such a little bit in two days at sea. I used to think that if I only brought this little catch back, I would lose money if I counted the manpower and material resources to go to sea. So I simply took a gamble and drove the boat farther away, but still like that, I still didn't encounter a decent school of fish. And I went far, delayed the time to come back, and most of the little fish I caught died in the past. ”

"Alas...... This year's harvest is really not good. ”

"yes, I don't know what to do if it goes on like this."

“……”

A few men on the side of the fishing boat lit cigarettes and continued to discuss this year's worrying harvest with a sad face.

The sky on the coast darkened and turned a misty blue-gray.

A few points of smoke swept up the sparks, and the cold, wet sea breeze blew it bright and dark.

……

Kamiyagawa walked on Oguri Island, and when he saw that it was already dark, he thought about finding a place to live first.

Then we will officially start investigating the relevant information of Lord Red Ray.

Thirty years ago, it was a fishing village, but now it's an island town, although it's not too big.

Kamiya opened the map on his phone and looked at it, and there seemed to be only one small hotel in Oguri Town.

He was going to stay there.

Holding his phone, he walked along the not-so-wide road in the town for a while, and when he passed a street lamp, Kamiya stopped.

He turned his head suddenly, and Tong Kong shrank slightly at this moment, deep and pitch black.

At the same time, his right hand had already pressed on the handle of the [Banshee] in the [Mirage Cloth Bag].

Kamiya was looking at a corner of the alley behind him.

And after he turned around, the figure around the corner flashed, and the sound of small leather shoes trampling on the ground sounded, and his footsteps were flustered and drifted away.

"It's just a person."

Kamiyagawa was slightly disappointed.

Although the person around the corner moved quickly, with the help of the [Autumn Slash] technique to strengthen his eyesight, Kamiya could still easily see the other party's appearance.

It was a girl who looked like a junior high school student, with short hair, and wore a sailor suit with a coat in autumn and winter, probably a school uniform.

"So why run? If you don't run so quickly, I can simply ignore you as a little girl who spies on a strange handsome big brother out of curiosity. ”

Kamiyagawa didn't chase that JC by himself.

Instead, he took out the bronze match of the bird.

"Abba whoop."

A whole purple ghostly aura swirled, and the little old man appeared.

Kamiya chin at the corner he had just turned.

The little old man immediately understood, and screamed and jumped to summon his outer body.

Then the doppelganger chased out like a strange species, and the little old man's body returned to the bronze match of the bird.

After doing this little thing, Kamiya re-navigated the map and continued to look for the inn in the town.

It took about another ten minutes or so.

Kamiya finds an inn in town.

The inn has no name, just a wooden plaque that reads "Medieval Home".

The house is completely wooden and looks a little old.

The innkeeper is a hunchbacked, kind-looking old woman.

Kamiyagawa had a simple check-in here.

The cost of accommodation is inexpensive, 2,000 yen per night.

After taking the key, Kamiya was led by his mother-in-law to the second floor of the hotel.

The rooms in the inn are not large, probably converted from the original residential rooms, and have a small bed.

Like the hotel itself, the rooms are a bit old, but they do have a separate bathroom, and they have been carefully cleaned, and they look quite clean.

Kamiya is not picky.

Living in an island town, it's good to have this condition.

"This room is yours, young man. I'm downstairs, so you can come down and tell me anything directly. The innkeeper said this, turning to leave.

"Wait a minute, mother-in-law."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, I'd like to ask about Akatsumi-sama on Oguri Island. It is said that decades ago, the red ray festival was still held here. ”

Kamiyagawa didn't detour at all and got straight to the point.

According to the age of the innkeeper's mother-in-law, she must know about the matter of the red stingray on Oguri Island.

"Why do you ask this?"

The mother-in-law asked rhetorically, but her expression did not show much vigilance, more doubt.

"Oh, that's right." Kamiya smiled, put a hand in his pocket, and pinched the [Thousand Silver Needle], "I'm a student at Kyushu University, majoring in yokai studies, and I'm a folklore scholar who is still studying." This time I came to Oguri Island to collect the customs related to the red stingray, which is a topic I will do this semester. ”

The [1,000 Silver Needle] item is basically useless for strange stories and soul slayers, but it is very useful to deceive ordinary people.

The "lies" that are in great conflict with the facts and are completely illogical are also likely to be believed by ordinary people.

However, it is estimated that it will not be long before he comes to his senses.

The more outrageous the lie, the quicker it will wake up.

However, like the lies that Kamiyagawa is telling now, it is more reasonable to logically find any hard flaws.

And he was already a junior in high school, and when he wasn't wearing a school uniform, there was no big difference in appearance when he was a college student.

In addition, the lie itself does not harm the interests of the person to whom the conversation is talking.

These elements are superimposed, and unless someone jumps out and shoots Kamiya's student ID card to prove that he is still a high school student at Hanaling High School, this lie may not even be detected at all.

It can only be said that Kamiyagawa still has a strong understanding of the prop [Thousand Silver Needles].

Without him, only the hand is familiar.

"It's a college student who does academics." The innkeeper looked at Kamiya's face and froze for a few seconds, "No wonder you came to a remote island like ours at this time." ”

In fact, there are a lot of things that my mother-in-law can't understand what Kamiyagawa just said, but under the guidance of [Thousand Silver Needles], this old man still recognized and accepted Kamiyagawa's new identity to the greatest extent according to his own understanding.

"Well, so does my mother-in-law know about Lord Red Ray?"

"Of course I do. Lord Red Stingray is a very powerful, merciful god who will bless us with a good catch. The hotel's mother-in-law nodded.

This statement is similar to what is provided in the official information.

"Anything else? For example, how the red ray festival was used in the past. ”

"Others? No, I don't. As for the festival, there were when I was younger, but I remember that it was quite lively, and many people went to the shrine of the red ray to worship, and after the sacrifice, everyone would eat sea bream together. In the past, when it was a village, the sacrifices were presided over by the priests of the village. But the last priest, who died of illness decades ago. ”

"That's right."

Kamiya didn't think the innkeeper was lying to herself.

For the vast majority of ordinary people, they only know what benefits the worshiped gods will bring to themselves.

As for the background of the gods and related customs, it is really impossible to tell the reason for the twists and turns.

"Where's the shrine of Akamaray-sama?" Kamiya asked again.

"It's deserted now, in the woods east of town. It's not easy to walk over there, it's getting dark, and if you want to see it, boy, let's go again tomorrow. ”

The hostel's mother-in-law replied like this, and gave a kind reminder by the way.

"I know, mother-in-law." Kamiyagawa smiled.

"Eh, maybe it's because Oguri Island hasn't worshiped Lord Chi Stingray for too long. Lord Red Stingray is furious, this year's catch is so bad. Because of the conversation with Kamiya, the innkeeper sighed, and then slowly raised her head, "That young man, are you okay?" ”

"Oh, and there's another question - mother-in-law, are the restaurants on the island tastier? I haven't had dinner yet. ”

"You're asking the right person. Walk out of my place and head southeast, where Yoshizawa's restaurant is. This year's harvest was poor, but Yoshizawa still had conch and sea bream, and he made it delicious. ”

"Okay, thank you, mother-in-law."

……

Hanhei Asakawa is 10 years old and an ordinary elementary school student at Oguri Town Elementary School.

His father, like many men on the island, was in the fishing business.

The conditions of the Asakawa family are not bad, at least on Oguri Island.

Asakawa Hanpei has been raised by his family since he was a child, and he is slightly richer than other peers.

That night, Banping finished his homework, washed up, and went to bed early.

There is no entertainment on the island, and elementary school students go to bed early.

Hanpei Asakawa had a dream.

He dreamed that he was playing hide and seek on the beach with a few friends.

Adults always ask children not to go to the beach to play, but these little devils always turn a deaf ear.

When the game starts, Hanping hides behind a rock.

After hiding for a long time, the ghost's friends still haven't found him.

While waiting, Asakawa Hanhei looked around boredly. Suddenly, he saw something strange—

Not too far from him, in the shallows, the waves crashed against the black reef, splashing white foam.

There was a bright red patch of stuff that floated back and forth in it.

After a few rounds, the bright red came closer and closer to the shore and slowly stood upright.

Only then did Asakawa Hanpei completely see that it was an old man in a beautiful red kimono.

My husband had a long white beard and stood on the beach, the water dripping down his brightly colored kimono.

"Come on."

The old man beckoned to Asakawa Hanpei.

Banping's dream ended for the time being, and he rolled over in bed, as if he had fallen into a deeper sleep.

But in fact, Hanping's experience in the dream was not entirely fake.

Two days ago, he did play with a few friends on the beach in his dream, the beach west of Oguri Island.

It's also playing hide and seek, and it's also hiding behind the reef.

But what happened next, Asakawa Hanpei doesn't remember.

On that hide-and-seek two days ago, he passed out.

When I woke up again, I was already lying on my bed.

It was the friends who were playing together who found him fainting on the beach and notified the adults in time.

No one knows why Hanpei Asakawa fainted.

Even he didn't know.

The adults accidentally hit their heads when they were playing on the beach.

For this reason, he also scolded these little ghosts.

I've said it a few times, I can't go to the beach to play.

How dangerous.

"Uh-huh......"

The half-flat on the bed let out a lake-like dream, and began to dream again.

This time, he still dreamed that he was on the beach.

The surroundings are dark.

A bonfire was lit on the beach, and the flames were burning and rising high into the dark sky.

It's like trying to burn a hole in the sky.

Hanhei Asakawa stood on the edge of the bonfire, surrounded by a dozen adults.

The clothes of the adults looked a little old, very different from the current style.

They held hands, gathered and scattered.

The head of the adult is still whispering from time to time, not knowing what he is saying.

Hot...... It's so hot.

It's so hot that it's almost melting.

Hanpei felt uneasy, and he followed the light of the bonfire and looked towards the sea.

Inside the pitch-black water, there is an extremely vivid red cloud, which is constantly floating up and down with the waves.

After a few rounds, the red color got closer and closer to the shore.

Turned into an old man who wears a beautiful kimono and a white beard.

The sea water dripped down his wet red kimono, and it smudged away, bright as blood.

"Come on."

The old man beckoned to Asakawa Hanpei.

Banping Mimi Lake walked over.

The adults around him began to whisper in unison, reverent and solemn.

When he got closer, Hanpei Asakawa saw the face of his old man in kimono clearly, and he was a very, very kind and kind old man.

The old man raised his hand and rubbed his half-flat head.

And then—

Shhh

The face and chest of the old man in the kimono were torn out at the same time, and a large bloody hole was torn out, and red hollow cavities squirmed out of his face and chest.

The lumen surged to Banping, burrowed into his delicate white skin, pulled out the barbs, and fixed them in it.

Goo goo goo.

The red cavities squirmed, and it looked like something was flowing inside.

It flows from the half-flat body to the body of the kimono old man.

The old man let out an old but pleasant moan, and on his cracked face and chest, there were some white-yellow fat fluids flowing downwards from the ends of the wriggling red cavities.

"Don't, don't!"

Hanping was terrified and howled.

Pain...... It hurts.

And at this juncture, Hanpei Asakawa, who was so frightened that he leaked urine, seemed to hear a strange sound.

“po~po~po~”

It was a strange sound, like someone sucking their lips hard and then letting them go.

And I don't know why, Asakawa Hanpei has a feeling.

It was as if the strange voice that sounded in such a terrifying scene was far away from him and did not belong to the present.

It's like ......

It sounded outside of his dreams.

“po~po~po~”