【Good Leaf】Eclipse of the Crimson Moon

零刻

In the very long past, the gods created this "world" in which people live, human beings, and other living beings.

Although human beings have an appearance similar to gods, they are not endowed with eternal life like gods.

They are born, they grow, and they go about their lives for a short time.And no matter what kind of feats they have, they all end up in this world with death.

After human death, the body decays, and the soul enters the afterlife world, accepts the judgment, and decides its destination.

Those who are peaceful and peaceful can enter the "Eternal Kingdom", which is the eternal realm of the gods, the eternal world where time is stagnant, the ancients called it "the secluded world", or - "eternal night".

However, not all those who have passed away can be inserted into that world.

Souls with strong attachment and persistence to the world wander in the world.Among them, the spirit of strong hatred and evil thoughts gathers the darkness in people's hearts, causing storms and tragedies in the present world countless times.The gods then sent envoys with divine power to suppress and surrender.

The repelled evil spirits fled to the entrance of the eternal world, and were finally locked in the slit of time and space, and closed the door to the ordinary world and the present world with a seal.Countless sorrows, pains, hatreds, and despairs gathered in that place, sleeping in an endless sea of ​​dark swamps.Its deepest part is forever burning with sulfurous karmic fire, burning the souls of sinners, continuing eternal torture, and it is an abyss from which there is no return.

There is the "country of roots", and it is also called "Yellow Spring Hirazaka" by later generations. (Note)

People living in this world are grateful to the gods, build shrines, hold sacrifices, and sing and dance to express their gratitude and admiration.The world can prosper, and the descendants can multiply.The present world has continued for a long time, and although it has experienced ups and downs and vicissitudes, it will finally pass on the history in this land blessed by the gods.

However, the shadow sealed in the root country did not stop surging, and new resentment and malice were constantly being born in the world, accumulating and accumulating, eventually forming a spiritual path that broke through the barrier, and darkness descended from it.

This is a story I heard a long time ago, when I was six years old.

Abandoned by his parents, he is helpless.I hated the strange eyes that people looked at me and became angry from time to time. I escaped from the children's shelter and lived on the street with heavy snow.Just as I shrank and wandered in despair, looking for an end point, an old woman with a kind face appeared in front of me and held out her hand to me.

Why didn't he shake off that wrinkled hand and refuse her invitation?

When I was young, I didn't think deeply about this issue.Probably, I just thought that she would not look at me with indifference or strange eyes like ordinary people, because she is blind.

I am Anna Osore.

Knowing that I'm different from other kids is because I always see something that they don't.

After being scolded as a "liar" several times, the sneering eyes around me gradually changed to contempt and disgust, and finally they could even be heard "whispering" about me in a not-so-low volume.

I went home sad and cried to my parents, and in order to prove that I was not lying, I took them to see my grandfather who had been standing under the cherry tree on the opposite corner.But they did not show an expression of understanding, but instead showed a look of horror.Shortly thereafter, the family moved from their original residence to the place where their father was transferred.I followed their instructions and waited by the small shop in front of the bustling station in Xiabei, and I never saw them again.

The old woman who took me in runs a small hotel, but there are few tourists in this extremely cold northern region, and I don't see many customers.

The strong hatred and resistance towards people in her heart have not disappeared, but she is still a little curious about what she relies on to make a living.The old man seemed to see through my mind, took me to the tea room, and told such a story leisurely.

Only then did I know the existence of the world other than this world, and I understood the reason why I was rejected by others.And all these "stories" are no longer just legends to me, they are the beginning of another world that ordinary people cannot understand and touch.

Mount Osore in Shimokita-gun, Aomori Prefecture is one of Japan's three major spiritual sites that even floating spirits who wander around the world are reluctant to approach.

Haunted by the pale steam and pungent smell of sulfur that spews from the fissures of an active volcano, white rocks form a chilling scene on the surface.The mirror-like volcanic lake surrounded by mountains on all sides has dark gray reflections of distant mountains, and there is no trace of flying birds and fish schools. It is more desolate than beautiful.There are white shoals stretching along the edge of the lake, and countless stone mounds and dilapidated Jizo are scattered here and there.

The stacked stones, the mottled and dilapidated red windmill standing in the barren mound, and the tattered shawl on Jizo's body are all traces left by those who remember the dead.The rotation of the windmill driven by the wild wind is the only evidence that time is passing in this dead world.

In this place where it is hard to tell whether it is hell or bliss, all people can find is death, and all they can leave behind are memories of the dead.

It is the place where the lost souls finally come to connect this life and the underworld, so it is called "Mount Osor".

Although I felt that the scene was infinitely sad when I saw it for the first time, but at the same time, I felt that this was the most suitable place for me.

★★★

The old woman who runs the Yasui Hotel is called Asakura Kino, and she is still healthy despite her advanced age.She said that she asked me to help take care of this almost unattended hotel, but in fact she kept everything in order even when she was alone. She likes to live alone and only occasionally hires helpers for cleaning and delivery.

It wasn't long before I found out what she was doing.It turned out that she was a well-known psychic in the local area, and she had certain attainments in divination, asking rice, exorcising evil and avoiding evil.Having seen her recall the souls of the dead, I have no doubts about her abilities.She smiled and said that I also have that kind of talent, and asked me if I want to learn "Spirituality", I hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Compared with communicating with human beings, talking with these lonely and wandering souls will have a more common language.

I became a disciple of Granny Mu Nai, practiced "Shizi" (Note) and lived with her.In this northern land where the cold wind blows in the four seasons, my heart has become vast and still like the frozen surface of the lake on Mount Usori (Note), and the spring and autumn are fleeting for several years.In this way, time flies, and time flies.

★★★

In the early winter when he was nine years old, guests from afar came to a hotel that few people came to.Grandma Mu Nai had already prepared for this. Although she was not overjoyed, I could feel that this visit was something she had been looking forward to for a long time.

I thought that the distinguished guests from my mother-in-law's house would have many entourages and ostentation, which would unavoidably make me, who hates crowds, feel unhappy, but to my surprise, the visitor was only a boy not much taller than me.

The boy in a light-colored long coat has warm brown hair that just reaches his shoulders, and a pair of orange-yellow headphones are hooped behind his ears.The bangs parted in the middle fall on the cheeks, fluctuating with every movement, but it highlights the face in the middle, delicate and simple.The beautiful jet-black pupils reflected the unmelted snow light, clear and translucent with a bit of peace and laziness, like warm amber.

Afterwards, as expected, he greeted Granny Mu Nai very happily, and then saw me, and immediately turned around to greet me with a soft smile on his lips.

It was a very natural development at first, and there was nothing wrong with that warm smile, but there was inexplicable sadness in my heart.How long has it been since you smiled in front of people?Even I can't remember clearly, and now, I probably have forgotten how to smile.

Seeing my indifferent face, his smile gradually froze into inexplicable embarrassment, and the sluggish expression on his face shattered my unformed first impression, and his favorability dropped to a negative value.

I was not present at their subsequent conversations. Anyway, grandparents and grandchildren reminiscing about old times and sharing family relationships have nothing to do with me.I didn't need and didn't want to know the content of the conversation between Mu Nai and the boy that day, so I walked out of the hotel gate in the afternoon when the snowflakes were falling, and wandered aimlessly on the streets with few pedestrians.

The winter sun is barely warm, and night comes early.I stood by the small road at the foot of Mount Osore, looking at the road covered with a layer of bright blue snow and the well-known mountains and forests.Until a strong feeling of sleepiness hit, and the body was too cold to bear, I was forced to return.

It was already late at night when I stepped into the hotel gate, I gently opened the door, not intending to disturb them who might have fallen asleep, but bumped into the munai mother-in-law waiting there.The living room did not turn on the light, and it was me who was startled by the sudden movement.

"Back? Anna."

The mother-in-law's voice was not unusual, but it seemed to me like the calm before the storm.Anyway, I was already mentally prepared to be reprimanded.So I closed the door and stood there with a gloomy face, but what I expected didn't happen.After confirming that I was fine, she turned and left on crutches, and told me to go to rest quickly.

During the night of tossing and turning, all kinds of absurd, sad, and weird thoughts were entangled in my mind, which made me extremely flustered and irritable.Then, at some point, he finally fell asleep from exhaustion, and saw his parents whose faces were blurred again in the dream.Although I tried my best to catch up, I still couldn't keep their fading figures. Finally, I woke up with my own shouts, and realized that it was almost ten o'clock in the morning.

He hurriedly got up, put on his clothes and went to the outside room, but he couldn't find his mother-in-law anywhere.Just when I was wondering, I saw her strolling leisurely into the hotel from outside the gate.

"Didn't sleep well?"

"...um...that..." The words I wanted to ask were choked in my throat, which made me flustered rarely.

"If it's about Ye, he's already taken the early bus back. Come on, let's go in and talk, it's windy today."

I was slightly taken aback.After all, he is the grandson of Granny Mu Nai who hasn't seen each other for more than three years. Why did he leave in a hurry after only staying for such a short time?

Although I didn't ask, my mother-in-law smiled as if she understood my thoughts completely, and said that it was because the boy felt that I seemed a little unhappy about his arrival, so he went back early.

I clenched the folds of the clothes in my hands, and although I didn't speak, I also understood that there was a lot of apology in the embarrassment that surged in my heart at this moment.

Fortunately, Granny Mu Nai did not continue this topic, but told me frankly the purpose of that boy's visit.

He made a special trip to see me from the Goasakura family on Oki Island in Shimane, but it was not his own idea.

I guessed a long time ago that my mother-in-law's family must also be an influential family in the field of yin and yang, and now it has been proved that this idea is indeed correct.

The young man's name is Ma Cang Ye, and he is the grandson of Ye Ming, the owner of Ma Cang Patriarch.He also has a twin brother named Ma Canghao.

Asakura and the other four families after Oki Island are collectively known as the five families by the locals. They are nobles who have been stationed there since very early times, and the main members of the family all follow the Shinto concept and are proficient in Yin-Yang and Five Elements. And various spells, it can be said that it is one of the psychic family that is very rare in modern Japan.

In addition to the three spiritual sites of Mt. Osore, Mt. Koya, and Mt. Hiei, there are also many places in this world where countless souls have gathered for many years and gradually tilted towards the eternal world.When the fluctuations condensed by resentment continue to increase and are enough to arouse the resonance of the root country, the seals of Changshi, Huangquan and the human world may be broken.Once evil spirits and resentful ghosts flood into the human world, it will cause an "eclipse" in which all living things are wiped out.

And Oki is such a place that has condensed countless ominous disasters since ancient times.The priests of the Gogo Family have guarded the weak points of the barrier since before Kamakura, and this priesthood has lasted for nearly a thousand years.

In order to pass on the mission, the heirs of the family need to combine with the opposite sex whose ability is recognized, leaving offspring capable of undertaking the mission.The 12-year-old Asakang brothers also have to choose a fiancé before the "selection" (Note) that will come in a few years.

This time it was Ye who was ordered to come, but it was probably unexpected that he left without saying a word to the other party.

I am not too surprised by Granny Mu Nai's explanation, because I have heard her mention before that there are marriage candidates among the orphans adopted by the family.

My mother-in-law told me not to take this matter too seriously. Originally, fate cannot be forced. If we don't like each other, we can just put it aside.

Since then, no one from my family has visited for a long time, and I have gradually forgotten this short meeting, only occasionally thinking of the soft brown and indifferent smile, and there is a faint sourness in my heart.

Watch the snowflakes fall silently one after another, and the bleak wind blows over this perennially frozen land.On Mount Osore in Shimokita, I watched the vegetation wither and flourish year after year, and continued to practice.

Maybe I will live a life of isolation from the world, but why there is always a thorn-like existence, which hurts my heart when I think I can ignore everything, and makes my heart fluctuate and entangle?

★★★

The unchanging life ended at the age of 12.

My mother-in-law hurriedly recalled me who was out to do errands, because the visitor who came suddenly brought amazing news.

The person who came was the priest of Ma Cang's family, with a flustered expression, and only explained the general situation after several times of urging and questioning by her mother-in-law.A few days ago, during the Siyue Festival? Ri Festival, the ceremony failed, and the thousand stones (note) that sealed the gate of the underworld were broken, and the priests of the five families exhausted all their strength to seal the spiritual path with a new seal. .But because of the miasma of evil spirits gushing out and the impact of the crumbling barrier, there were many casualties participating in the ceremony.Among them, many priests of the Ma Cang family who were the officiant of the ceremony were killed, including the patriarch Ma Cang Ye Ming.At present, several dignitaries of the family, including Mu Nai's daughter Ganzi, are still being treated in the hospital, and their lives are dying.The main family and the other four families invited Grandma Mu Nai to return to Oki as soon as possible to deal with everything.

The mother-in-law, who has always been calm and calm, seemed to have aged for several years in an instant. The silent pain permeated the entire hotel, and even I couldn't help feeling sad.

Mother Kino stayed in Aomori, originally to protect the seal of Mt. Osor together with the local priests, and the hotel she runs is actually for the disciples.It's just that during the years I've been here, the number of disciples has been greatly reduced and it seems deserted.

Quickly packed up my luggage and set foot on the train going south, and I accompanied me.

I don't care what the so-called world will become.The disasters caused by spirits in this world originally originate from the darkness of the human heart.Greed, resentment, jealousy, hatred, tyranny... Countless evil thoughts breed passages leading to the root country, all of which are the world's own fault.

But I will never forget my mother-in-law's nurturing grace over the years.When I was abandoned by this world, only she extended a helping hand to me.Although I am weak now, I will do my best to share her worries.

She has always been considerate and did not block my decision.No need for cumbersome words, before she left, she handed me the "one thousand and eighty" (Note) used to enhance the mana of psykers, and admitted that I was the acting priest of the Asakang family.

In the spring of Showa 61, Tsukimi after I came to Oki Island with Grandma Kino.

In the eyes of ordinary people, this land of mountains and seas, whose scenery is particularly fascinating, is located on the opposite side of Izumo and Matsue, separated by a strait.

Izumo, which also has a long history of Shinto holy land, is said to have 800 million gods gathered here in October, and the grand shrine hall is very solemn and magnificent.But when I heard about it, I suddenly had an inexplicable cloud over my heart, probably because of the name?

According to legend, Izanaki ordered to seal the gate of the underworld and the present world, and abandoned the goddess Izanami, who was once his wife, so that the two turned against each other.On both sides of the thousand lead stones, they issued a vow of resolute husband and wife.Izanami ordered to cast the poisonous curse of "my husband treats me like this, I will kill thousands of people in your country every day", turning from a goddess of creation into a god of darkness in the underworld.From then on, the country of roots has become the country of the abyss where resentment and pain continue to gather.And this country is in the "Ifu Yasaka" in the Izumo country.

Although it is just a story in "Ancient Matters" (Note), it makes people feel inexplicably sad.Betrayal and parting are indeed the sad fate that exists in human history at any time, and even the gods cannot escape.

Turn back the sad mood and re-examine the moon in front of me.

The town is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and there is only one road leading to the harbor on the island. The island is surrounded by reefs and jagged rocks.Rather than saying that the scenery is fascinating, it is better to say that it is a natural place of confinement.It will be used as a place of exile for sinners of all ages, not just because of the terrain.

Open the spiritual eye that can see things that should not exist in the world, and you can clearly see the gloomy air permeating the island, forming a terrifying spiral, like a huge tornado, falling from the sky to the small town In the sea of ​​trees on Dafeng Mountain in the west.The floating spirits nearby were attracted by this thick and powerful spiritual path. Once they got involved, they couldn't get out again, and they were directly brought into the abyss filled with ominous air.

Note: Changshi, the current world, and the country of roots, the settings are partly taken from Japanese mythology, but there are also some changes.

Note: Shizi, a kind of witch.The demarcation between its specific ability and the "God Child" who serves in the shrine is unclear. In a simple understanding, Shizi generally does not serve in the shrine.

Note: Lake Usorizan, a huge lake surrounded by active volcanoes in Mount Osor, has appeared in both the SK manga version and the full version color picture, and its vast scene makes people sad.

Note: On the selection day, one of the customary ceremonies of the Yuejian Yuwu Family, the specific introduction is in the following article.

Note: Qianyinshi, in Japanese mythology, Izanagi's life (father god) used to block the seal stone of the underworld and the passage of the world, also known as the Taoist God.The sealing stone that is seen in the moon is also called the Senbi stone, which is the huge stone that appeared in the altar in Masumi's (Ye)'s dream.For more details, please refer to the Japanese Creation Myth.

Note: 1080,... er, do you need a note for this...For friends who have never seen sk, you may need a note...

Note: Kojiki, an ancient Japanese official history book, records Japanese myths, legends and history.