Divine Incursions, Vol. 1 by Oumi Kifuru and syo5

Author:Oumi Kifuru and syo5
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yen On

II

The music suddenly vanished, like a radio when the plug had been pulled.

“Katagishi, what should we do for now?” Miyaki asked, furrowing her brow.

“Why don’t we check out the shrine? I’ve got some questions about this god.”

We left the house behind us, letting the Tomoi family know we were going to investigate. I strained my ears to pick out any sound, but I didn’t hear music. The withered branches of the plum trees stretched across a vacant blue sky.

“What was that thing?” Miyaki asked as we made our way along the asphalt street, through broad grassy fields littered only occasionally with retirement homes and factories. As with previous incidents, this village seemed just like any other backwater on the surface.

“Probably the village’s god…”

“And the figures in white carrying the palanquin? Do you think they were part of the god, too?”

“Who’s to say? The palanquin and the figures carrying it looked like two separate things, but they could be a single entity for all we know. Usually, the god is found riding on top, though. That’s the whole point of a sacred palanquin.”

“Were you even looking, Katagishi?” Miyaki said, reprimanding me. “Normally, there’s a phoenix or some other ornament atop a sacred palanquin, but that palanquin’s ornament was missing.”

I kept my lips shut. A row of evenly spaced pylon towers towered overhead, power lines stretching between them as if to enclose the forest that sprawled in the distance. They reminded me of shimenawa, the sacred ropes and straw festoons used to mark off holy spaces. And of the cords that had been used to string up the lanterns along the village’s market street.

“At least we know what that old woman at the souvenir shop was on about now,” I said. Miyaki turned toward me. “They don’t set the dates for the festivals in advance. Once they hear the music, that day becomes a festival day. Calling it a festival is their way of wrapping their heads around the bizarre monsters with the palanquin that suddenly descend on their village.”

“You mean, as a way to rationalize it to themselves…?”

As we continued along the road, I spotted a red torii shrine gate buried amid the dark-green trees clustered like cumulonimbus clouds. After climbing the cracked stones and setting foot into the shrine grounds at the top of the hill, I was surprised to see that the area was more spacious than I had expected. Bright sunlight streamed down from above. I quickly scanned the shrine. The grounds were surrounded by oak trees and included a fairly underwhelming playground with nothing but swings and a slide. It was quiet.

“I don’t see any signs of a festival going on…,” Miyaki muttered.

I could hear a few people laughing. Turning around, I spotted three men in work clothes gathered behind the little shelter where visitors were expected to perform ablutions before going to the shrine. The men were smoking cigarettes and shooting the breeze. I hesitated over whether to speak to them, but Miyaki was already headed their way.

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