Outside the shrine, several elderly people and children who were attracted by the fire and smoke were stopped by Ryoma and Hase before the second, and curiously watched the ancient hand shrine that suffered the "fire".

"Well, it's all done to this extent. This weird person who has become a Buddha can't be 'resurrected from the dead' any more."

Putting his hands in his pockets, Sousuke Araki finally relaxed.

"Officer Araki, my father's death should have something to do with what happened under this ancestral hall."

Behind him, the still pale-faced president of the cave door asked abruptly.

"Feel sorry……"

"Secret, right, I understand..."

"I was the only one who discovered my father's body for the first time... So, from beginning to end, only me and the police knew that his death was not that simple."

Before Sousuke Araki could finish his words, President Anado continued to mutter to himself.

"Because, no one who died normally would be horrified and distorted and his eyes would burst..."

"I didn't dare to tell the people in the village about this. I just thought he died of natural death and was buried in haste, and put all the relics away."

"I didn't remember that scene until today when I saw the scene in the basement... The intestinal flow festival is said to be a ritual born to pray for the help of the 'mountain god' and destroy the enemy."

"And the death of my father... woo... It is very similar to the legends, those who died on the battlefield due to the curse of the Anado family..."

Having said that, President Anueto seemed to have lost all his strength, and fell to the ground tremblingly, covering his face and sobbing.

"Should have found out earlier, to stop him from tinkering with those ominous things... I'm really useless..."

"It's just a matter of staying in the mountains and not daring to go to the big city... Not only did I fail to protect my father, but I didn't even leave anything he cared about..."

At this moment, this simple country uncle was crying like a child.

"I ask your condolences... Although we cannot disclose any information, we must believe that we are doing this for the sake of protecting more people."

Sousuke Araki patted his shoulder comfortingly.

It is indeed a bit unkind for these "despicable foreigners" to burn down the shrines in other people's villages as soon as they come.

"Moreover, I believe that even without these things, the long history of the Anado family will flow in the blood of every descendant, and it will be passed down by word of mouth..."

However, if the president of the cave family knew, because of his father's whim, he uploaded the genealogy of the "anado family" to multiple surname query websites, resulting in a strange resuscitation of a person who "knows the name and will be serviced at the door", How would you feel after slaughtering dozens of people including his father?

That's right, the place name "Hinami Ze" was "told" to Sosuke Araki after the woman in white became a Buddha last night.

Born in Hinamisawa Village, she suffered from eye disease since childhood, and her eyeballs were unusually large.

Because of her extremely ugly appearance and her subtle name, she was ostracized by the villagers and treated like a monster since she was a child.

In such a small mountain village with fixed personnel, simple interpersonal relationships, and a pool of stagnant water, once a "label" of one kind or another is affixed, it is often faced with a more cruel and irreversible fate.

In the years of famine and war, all the disasters that happened were blamed on her, who covered her face with long hair all day long and lived like a mouse crossing the street.

Regardless of her name or appearance, to her, they are all meaningless scars that she is ashamed to see.

Because ugliness is original sin.

At the end of the winter of another year, some villagers who were convinced that she was a symbol of "unknown" chose to use the method of "gut flow sacrifice" to dig out her eyes and internal organs, and sacrifice her alive in the basement of the shrine. way to pray to the "mountain god" to bless the whole village to prosper.

When this ugly crime was covered up in the dust of history, the descendants of the villagers, who knew nothing about it, still worshipped this shrine and its "ancestors" reverently for hundreds of years...

But I don't know, and at the same time, it is also making offerings, an existence that no one knows about below the shrine.

Until the "real name" that symbolized her painful life was re-known to the world because of the re-compiled genealogy.

Death is not scary.

For some people, living in the viciousness and cruelty of others all their lives because of their flaws in name and appearance is a more terrible and unforgivable thing than death.

...

"All in all, after this place is burnt out and checked again, you can go back, right?"

After the weeping Anado President was helped away by Officer Hase, Erma Ryoma and Sousuke Araki sat side by side on the stone steps behind the torii, puffing up clouds of mist.

Behind them, is the shrine that has not yet been burned.

"Longma, you said that after death, is it better to be remembered or forgotten?"

Lying under the torii with his hands on the pillow, looking up at the white clouds fluttering in the blue sky, Sousuke Araki suddenly asked thoughtfully.

"For the dead, it shouldn't matter whether they are remembered or not... If you asked me a month ago, I would definitely answer you like this."

"But now, having learned that death is not necessarily the end, all I can say is...I don't know..."

Loosening the tie around his neck, Ryoma glanced at the "fire scene" behind him where the fire was fading, and his eyes became deep.

"Perhaps, the memory of the living for the dead is a kind of bondage."

"Well, actually... During the 'retreat practice' period, I secretly went to Saitama."

Without warning, Sousuke Araki uttered a line that shocked Ryoma's eyes before Er.

"What, you guy... went too?!"

"Also? Wait, shouldn't you also..."

"Yes, not only Saitama Lingyuan, but even the apartment in Shinjuku I checked several times."

After the two stared at each other, they smiled relievedly.

"Actually, before I went, I actually didn't think about it. I was afraid of facing their spirit bodies and worried about seeing them become resentful spirits..."

After discovering that they can see the spirit body, anyone will want to confirm whether the spirit body of the deceased friend will linger in that spiritual garden.

"However, after spending the night in the spiritual garden, I didn't see the spiritual bodies of Yukipei and Reiko. While I was relieved, I was a little disappointed."

Araki Sousuke sighed and spit out a melancholy smoke ring toward the top, as if he wanted to add a few grotesque white clouds to the blue sky.

"It was obvious that there were so many things that were promised to be done together that were not done, and there were so many things to say that were not said. The two of them suddenly 'elope' like this."

"I said... Sousuke..."

Two years ago, Ryoma habitually reached out and rubbed the other person's little golden oily head, and asked curiously, "If... I mean if..."

"That night, you really met Yukihira or Reiko...what would you do..."

"I don't know...I haven't thought about it...I won't think about it..."

Sousuke Araki slowly got up, picked up the thick book under his hips, and walked towards the shrine that was about to be extinguished.

"Perhaps, only when I really face that situation can I get the answer."

Squatting down, he gently spread the things in his hands on the fire.

"Originally, Sister Hanyu asked me to take this back, give it to the association, and send it to the Yin-Yang Dormitory for complete sealing..."

The ~lightnovelpub.net~ that fell into the firelight and was gradually swallowed was the family tree written by President Anado's father.

"But where it begins, it ends where it begins."

"It's almost there, let's go, Ryoma."

After doing all this, before calling on the second Ryoma, Sousuke Araki walked down the stairs with a relieved expression.

"However, having said that..."

As he passed through the torii gate, he glanced back anxiously.

In the light of the fire, the genealogy that was flipped in the wind happened to stay on one of the pages.

"Your appearance and the name "So beautiful" are obviously not ugly at all... Ugly is the human heart. "

Looking at a certain name on that page, after being completely swallowed up by the flames and turned into ashes, Araki Sosuke turned around and left with peace of mind.

...

You knew already.