Chapter 4: Hyakumonogatari’s Strange Tales
What comes into view is a rice field and rows of woods. The surrounding hills are low, but numerous and surround the entire village.

Returning to his hometown again, Horii Yuji was filled with emotion. He moved away from here with his parents when he was 10 years old, and it has been nearly 30 years since then.

During this period, he brought his daughter back several times, but this time his feelings were the most complicated.

He almost thought that the idea that he should have a brother or sister was a delusion, but he didn’t expect that there was other hidden secrets behind it.

The brand leaves the soul.

He has been thinking about this matter ever since Pinggong Qianye told him about this possibility that night.

He carefully recalled his increasingly incomplete childhood memories, but could not find anything suspicious.

“come in.”

Horii Yuji used the key to open the dusty courtyard gate.

Houses in the countryside are always big and have a large courtyard in front of the door.

Because no one has lived there for many years, the plants inside have grown wildly.

The house, which has withstood many years of wind and rain, has long shown signs of decay.

“Hiramiya-san, thank you for your help.” Horii Suzune said.

Hiramiya Chiye nodded and asked Horii Yuji to open all the doors of the house. He walked around the courtyard and observed the situation nearby before entering the house.

He inspected very quickly, often just taking a quick glance at a house and that was considered the inspection complete.

I walked around from top to bottom and inside to outside.

Pinggong Qianye shook his head, “It’s not here.”

“Is it troublesome?” Horii Suzune walked to the side of Hiramiya Chiye with a frown.

“After so many years, perhaps many things have changed.”

Hiramiya Chiye whispered, then turned and asked Horii Yuji if everything in the house was still there.

“When we moved away from here, we gave many of our unused items to Mr. Matsumoto. His family should still be in the village.”

Horii Yuji recalls carefully.

“Let’s go, we need to go to his house.”

On the way to Matsumoto’s house, the three people attracted the attention of many elderly people who were still in the village.

The car came from Tokyo, and there were some strange yet familiar faces, and Horii Yuji was quickly recognized.

When his childhood friends enthusiastically invited him to dinner parties, he could only refuse repeatedly.

When it comes to interpersonal relationships, the countryside is always more humane.

When he arrived at the Matsumoto family home in Horii Yuji’s memory, it was completely deserted, overgrown with weeds, and the house was also wrapped and entangled with vines.

After asking people nearby, I found out that the Matsumoto family had been deserted for more than ten years.

From old man Matsumoto to his two sons and three grandsons, all have died one after another.

pitiful.

When the man talked about the Matsumoto family, his expression was obviously unnatural, and he even hesitated to speak.

Horii Yuji suddenly felt a sense of panic in his heart.

When someone asked them why they came, Horii Suzune smiled and replied, “The school is carrying out a folk culture activity. We came to the countryside specifically to collect some stories about monsters.”

“Then you should go to Mr. Suzuki. He knows these stories best. We often tell him that he should become a ghost story writer.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Suzuki is not at home and will not be back until the evening.

Hiramiya Chiye was not in a hurry about this. She and Horii Suzune strolled around the country roads, ridges, and river paths.

The relaxed posture is like going out for an outing on vacation.

“I quite like this kind of environment. It’s much better than the depressing and cramped atmosphere in the city.” Horii Suzune said with emotion.

“There’s still a lot of natural scenery around my temple.”

“I’m looking forward to visiting Hiramiya-san’s home.”

Horii Yuji, who was following behind the two, had an increasingly gloomy expression on his face, even though Chiya Hiramiya seemed to have saved him that night.

But there is only one daughter.

The more he looked at them, the more he felt that the two of them were gradually developing into a couple.

“Does the branded soul mentioned before really exist?”

Horii Yuji forcefully inserted himself between the two of them and brought up a topic that had been discussed before.

“Of course it exists.” Pinggong Qianye moved a distance to the right to avoid being too crowded. “Have you heard of the story of the shadow remaining on the wall?”

Horii Suzune exclaimed, “I’ve heard this story before. It says there is a magical wall that can leave the shadows of passers-by inside the wall.”

“Every night, when the moonlight illuminates the wall, the shadows left on the wall seem to come alive.”

“They live a normal life in the world inside the walls like normal people.”

Hiramiya Chiye smiled and nodded, acknowledging Horii Suzune’s erudition.

In his opinion, the situation faced by Yuji Horii is similar to this.

The difference is that inside the wall where his shadow is left, there are only him and one other person.

Well, maybe not a human.

Influenced by this, Horii Yuji often feels that he should have a brother or sister who always stays by his side.

That is the influence from the broken soul.

Of course, leaving only a shadow on the wall is just a rough metaphor.

There are so many things that can hold the soul, such as a piece of paper, a painting, a mirror, or even a pool of water.

……

At night, the moon has not yet climbed out of the mountains.

There were not many pedestrians on the country roads, and it was very deserted and quiet.

Following the instructions of others, Hiramiya Chiye and the other two came to Mr. Suzuki’s house.

He was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, with slightly gray hair on his temples, a thin body, but his eyes were still bright.

Yuji Horii specially brought two bottles of Japanese sake as a gift for their first meeting.

Using the school’s folk culture activities as an excuse, they asked Suzuki Hideta about any supernatural events that had occurred or occurred in the village.

Suzuki Hideta did not resist. He opened a bottle of sake, took two wine cups, and brought a portion of fried peanuts and fried small yellow croaker from the kitchen as side dishes.

He first drank some wine with Horii Yuji, and chatted for a while about the people and events in the village’s past, before gradually opening up.

He is indeed very talkative and his storytelling is rhythmic.

Let’s start with the ancient legends of this village, such as the mysterious disappearance of the bronze bull, the sudden fire at home, waking up to find yourself in the wild, unknown objects floating in the river, and encountering kappa while swimming in the river…

The night wind blew, gently fanning the doors and windows that were not yet closed, and even the lamp flowers were blown to sway slightly.

Although Horii Suzune was also attracted by the story, the cold and lonely atmosphere of the countryside coupled with the wonderful ghost story still made her a little timid.

She leaned towards where Pinggong Qianye was, their shoulders touching each other, and she smelled the faint incense coming from Pinggong Qianye, and her mood instantly calmed down a lot.

This is a kind of natural incense that is difficult to describe. It should be the smell that only people who live in temples all year round can have.

Maybe it’s smoked?

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Horii Suzune’s lips.

Horii Yuji, who was drinking and lost in memories of the past, did not notice this little action.

When Suzuki Hideta’s story mentioned a lantern covered with blue paper, Hiramiya Chiya spoke and temporarily interrupted his narration.

“Mr. Suzuki, have you ever told ghost stories around lanterns covered with blue paper?”

The strange stories of Hyakumonogatari.

Horii Suzune beside her immediately thought of this legend.

Suzuki Hideta paused for a moment, then smiled and said, “This story has been passed down since the Showa era, and it has a history of more than 80 years.

I didn’t see it myself, but people at that time must have tried it and something happened, so there is such a legend passed down.”

“Of course, all of this may have been made up by adults to deceive children,” Suzuki Hideta added.

Pinggong Qianye smiled and said, “Mr. Suzuki, do you think this story is true or false?”

“I’m just an ordinary person who likes to tell stories.” Suzuki Hideta took a sip of wine, with some complicated emotions on his face, “But I think this story should be true.”

At this time, Horii Yuji, who was sitting nearby, frowned and looked thoughtful.

“When I was a child, I seemed to have seen a lantern covered with green paper like this in my grandfather’s study.”

He had seen it before.

It was just forgotten in the corner of his memory.

(End of this chapter)