The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe Vol. 6 by Shinobumaru

Author:Shinobumaru [Shinobumaru]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: light novel
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Published: 2023-05-23T07:00:00+00:00

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Shinonome was the Tsukumogami of a hanging scroll that was drawn sometime in the middle of the Edo period, and the artist who created him was said to be Maruyama Okyo.

Maruyama Okyo, beloved by the wealthy, drew heavily from nature and possessed an artistic style that was likable and pleasing to the eyes. His animals were so stunning that they could almost trick the viewer into thinking they were alive. Each one of his strokes was painstakingly laid, and they all came together to build beautiful scenes of creatures living and breathing in classical Japanese scenery.

The dragon depicted in Shinonome’s scroll was also breathtaking enough to make any viewer fall in love with it, but it harbored a secret within itself.

Shinonome was created in a dilapidated house in an unknown corner of Edo. On the day he was born, there were two men in the house. One of them, whose thin eyes slanted upward like those of a fox, looked like any other townsperson. But if you examined him more closely, you could see tattoos peeking out from under his sleeves. He tricked people for a living—yes, he was a con artist and clearly not a regular civilian.

The con artist was inspecting two scrolls that had been laid out on the floor. They looked like they could have been clones—the composition, the figure and expression of the dragon, and the gradients in the ink were all identical.

He nodded in satisfaction. “Lookin’ great. Anyone would be convinced that it was real!”

Hearing this, the other man, who was sitting on his knees in the room, bowed deeply. Dressed in rags, he had a thin frame and an unkempt beard. The top of his head had been shaved, as was typical of the men in that era, but his hair had begun to grow back roughly, a sign of his neglect in maintenance.

“Oh, thank you!” he gasped. “Um, about the payment…”

“Here. I’ll be back again, sir!”

Once the man had packed the scrolls away, he threw a pouch filled with coins to the floor, letting the shrill jangling of the currency inside ring out. Kicking aside the brushes that were scattered on the floor, the con artist left. Once the door was closed, the remaining man let out a sigh. He picked the pouch up from the floor and plopped down on a straw mat, knocking back a bottle of alcohol and gulping it down.

This man, who had once studied under Ishida Yutei with Maruyama Okyo as a fellow pupil, was Shinonome’s father. His skill as an artist was genuine, and the light of his future had shone brightly until he lost himself to the drink. He drifted and meandered through life until he began resorting to drawing forgeries to cobble together food for the table.

That’s right—Shinonome was a forgery, a fake made in imitation of Maruyama Okyo’s style.

Things that are treasured and used over a long period of time can change into something that goes beyond their origins. Tsukumogamis, spirits born from old tools or artworks that were imbued with life, are one example.

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