I loaded the ghost talk game

Akita Prefecture.

"Phew, it's so cold."

In the stone streets lined with falling snow, a young man walked quickly, and the hot breath from his mouth turned into white mist as soon as he exhaled.

The young man's name is Higashinosa, he is 24 years old and a student.

He is a native of Sansan Town, Akita Prefecture.

"Speaking of which, it's already this time."

Yes.

In one week, it will be the Great Dark Day.

The so-called Great Dark Day is actually New Year's Eve. The absence of the moon is called "hui", and the last moonless night at the end of the year is called "dahui".

Japan used to celebrate the Lunar New Year, but later changed to the Gregorian calendar "New Year's Day" as the Spring Festival. As a result, today's "Dahui Day" no longer coincides with the moon phase, but the corresponding calligraphy is still retained.

In Akita County, a grand celebration ceremony will be held on the night of the Great Dark Day.

That ceremony is called "Ramahaki Festival". As the name suggests, it is mainly for blessing gods and offering sacrifices to ghosts.

Nowadays, New Year decorations have been hung on the streets of Sansan-machi, such as large picture boards and hako boards, red and green. In front of the shops along the street are dotted with red and white cocoon jade shaped like glutinous rice balls, coupled with the snow along the street, It does have a strong New Year's flavor.

Turning the corner ahead, Higashino stopped in front of an izakaya.

This is a small shop that is not too conspicuous, and the location is not very good, but the wooden structure of the house has a sense of age.

At this time, a long white curtain has been hung at the door of the izakaya, with the end of the curtain about twenty centimeters above the ground.

Hanging up the nori curtain means that the izakaya is open for business. As for the scene inside, it is covered by the curtain. Standing outside, you can only see the yellowish light spreading through the cracks of the nori curtain and falling on the stone slabs. on the road.

"Sorry, I'm late."

Dongye got under the curtain and said hello to the boss at the counter.

After going to college, Higashino would come to this izakaya to work part-time every time he returned to Akita County during holidays.

The owner of this store is very accommodating and easy to talk to. So he has been working this part-time job until now, and this time he went home during the vacation was no exception.

Going to the workroom, Dongye took off his coat and started to change into work clothes.

During this period, he glanced at his phone.

Twitter pushed several messages to him——

[To be true, last night I saw the crying spirit wandering around Mount Osore...]

[shock! Human-faced dog appears on the streets of Nagoya! ]

[I think I have found some clues to the truth about the disappearance of Kamishi Town in Tokushima Prefecture. It was definitely not caused by any geological disaster. That place was very evil. ]

[Coordinates are in Arakawa Ward, Tokyo. When I approach a certain area here, I always feel my heart beating very fast and my face turning red very quickly. I can't tell exactly what kind of area would cause this reaction in me. But this should be considered a supernatural event, right? ]

"There are always push notifications like this on X recently."

Dongye locked the phone screen.

In fact, it’s not recent. It seems that this trend has begun in the past year. Discussions on supernatural content have become very frequent on the Internet.

Logically speaking, the supernatural section is a niche content, and discussions are basically within the circles of relevant enthusiasts.

In recent years, especially this year, more and more supernatural-related news has appeared online. The initiator of the topic and the following discussants were also serious and conclusive.

And even though Higashinosa himself is not a paranormal enthusiast, he can still see related content push from time to time. It seems that the relevant platforms and officials do not specifically prohibit the dissemination of relevant content.

In short, the current network environment feels like——

Japan is full of ghosts, and ghosts can be encountered wherever they go.

But Dongye knows that news on the Internet is always exaggerated.

Although the voices and discussants are loud, there is always a "silent majority" behind the noisy discussions.

Moreover, it is difficult to tell whether the information on the Internet is true or false.

Most of the so-called supernatural events have simple text descriptions, even if there are pictures and videos... Nowadays, both special effects and AI technology are so advanced. Whether it is true or false, Higashino can't tell.

Moreover, Higashino himself had no real feelings about the so-called "frequent supernatural events" and his life continued as usual.

Even from the time he can remember until now, he himself has never had any supernatural experience.

"Speaking of which, those four push notifications just now..."

The first three titles are pretty eye-catching, but what about the last one?

Rapid heartbeat and hot cheeks…

It's a bit funny, this is some kind of supernatural event.

…

After changing into work clothes, Higashino began to announce and pass the dishes as usual.

Maybe because of the snow, there weren't many customers in the store today. About two hours after he went to work, only the last three sparse tables of customers were still drinking and eating.

Although I feel a little sorry for my boss when I think this way, as a part-time worker, Higashino is really happy to be free when he has little work to do.

Seeing that there was nothing left to do, Dongye returned behind the counter.

The heating in the store is fully turned on, and behind the counter is also the kitchen where the boss works. The heat from the oven also makes people feel comfortable in such cold weather.

Higashinosa's face turned red from the heat.

Standing in this position, he looked towards the entrance hall.

Although there is a glass door at the outermost part of the izakaya, due to the existence of the nori in the middle, the situation on the street cannot be seen. The only area of ​​sight that can be seen outside is the gap about 20 centimeters above the ground in the nori.

It could be seen that it seemed to be snowing again outside. The nearby snowflakes were smoked into golden yellow by the flowing light, fluttering and falling, melting on the blue-black stone pavement.

Whenever he had free time, Dongye would habitually stand in this position and wait in a daze.

After all, you can’t play with your phone while at work.

Moreover, Tono likes to observe others.

However, as a waiter, it seemed impolite to look at the customers in the store while he was distracted, so he placed the objects of observation on the street outside. What can be seen through the gaps in the curtain——

Those coming and going, all kinds of, feet.

For example, the shoes are shiny, the trousers are flat, and the feet are steady; another example is the feet wearing red high heels, the ankles are beautifully curved, and the calves are slender.

Higashino Sa would look at the feet coming and going, imagining what the owner of each pair of feet looked like, and what the passers-by who were covered by the curtains looked like.

Higashino Saya didn't know if his little habit of occasionally killing boring time was considered "foot control".

But in fact, this process of observing parts and then associating the whole is quite interesting.

He enjoys it.

Unfortunately, probably because the weather was too cold tonight, no pedestrians were seen passing by on the small streets outside the izakaya.

"Xiao Zuo, give this roasted bird to the guest at table number one."

While he was in a daze, Higashino heard his boss call him this.

"OK."

He quickly came to his senses and quickly picked up the food plate in front of him.

Just like this, when he walked to table No. 1 near the entrance, Higashino glanced out of the corner of his eye and suddenly saw a pair of feet exposed in the gap under the entrance curtain.

Someone was standing outside.

Judging from the posture of those feet, the people outside should be standing directly facing the izakaya.

However, there was obviously no one outside the curtain just now, right?

And I didn't hear the sound of the outermost glass door opening.

What's more, what makes Higashinosa feel even more strange is that the feet under the curtain are not wearing shoes and are naked.

Bare feet on a cold snowy night like tonight?

The feet looked very old, full of wrinkles, with curled blood vessels, a strange gray-purple color, and some bright red rashes on the feet. Moreover, there is a string of red and white beads hanging on the ankle of his left foot.

What a strange pair of feet it is.

Therefore, the little game that Dongye was passionate about before, the little association question used to kill time, naturally lingered in his mind——

The owner of these feet is outside now, hidden by the curtain... What kind of person is he?

If you open the curtain at this time, you can see it, right?

"Hey, what are you doing? Put down my snacks."

The slightly impatient urging from the guest at table 1 brought Higashino back to his senses.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry."

He quickly put down the food plate in his hand and turned back behind the counter.

You can see that those blue-purple feet with tiny red rashes are still standing straight outside the curtain.

"Mr. Gota, there is someone outside."

Dong Ye whispered to the boss who was busy at the side.

The boss looked up. He obviously saw the pair of feet outside, but his reaction was not as big as Dongye's: "It's such a cold day, why don't you wear shoes? Did you want to stutter in the store? Xiao Zuo, go and see what's going on. thing."

"Me... me?"

To be honest, Dongye doesn't want to go near the entrance right now.

But at this time, the atmosphere in the store was as usual.

Others probably don't have Higashino's habit of carefully observing other people's feet. Like the boss, he seems to just regard the person outside the door as a poor wanderer who hesitates to enter the store to warm himself or ask for food.

"If it's just a homeless man whose skin is blue from the cold...and there are so many people in the store now."

Dongye thought this way, and walked towards the entrance again.

He stepped closer to the curtain, feeling a chill coming over him. It wasn't the coldness of the frigid air in the streets, but a fear that seeped into the bones.

No……

Something is very wrong.

Higashino lowered his head and looked at the gap under the curtain again. He finally noticed that it seemed that the environment on the street had changed at this time.

He had just seen the situation outside the street. The cocoon jade as New Year decorations on the street should have been lit up.

So just now I could see the lights outside and the falling snow.

But now, in the twenty-centimeter gap in the warm curtain, behind the naked feet, there was only a deep darkness.

I don’t know if it was because I had read some weird supernatural topics on the Internet before. At this moment, Dongye started to have random thoughts. It was as if with the appearance of these feet, the familiar streets and alleys behind the curtain suddenly became unfamiliar... ...Or, it doesn’t exist anymore?

If you lift this thin warm curtain, what is waiting for you outside?

"Boy, stay out of the way."

The urging sound behind him brought Dongye back to his senses again, who was beginning to feel frightened.

Behind him is the guest who was originally sitting at table 6.

A seemingly ordinary office worker has been drinking alone tonight. He must have drunk too much now, even his tie is tied on top of his head, he smells of alcohol and his face is red.

"Guest, I don't think you should go out now..." Higashino tried to stop him after realizing something was wrong.

"Hey, I've paid."

"But, outside, outside..."

"Huh?" The guest at table 6 looked out the curtain and burped unpleasantly, not caring, "Isn't he just a Namahage? You're really sick, it's not even the New Year's Eve yet. You too, go away, I want to go home."

A Namahage.

This sentence actually woke Higashino up.

Yes, the New Year's Eve celebration in Akita Prefecture, the Namahage Festival.

The so-called Namahage is a traditional Japanese monster.

It is said that whenever New Year's Eve is approaching, Namahage will appear, go door to door to ask for food and wine, and scare the residents in the house.

The real meaning of the word "Namahage" is to peel off the red skin. In the old Japanese concept, red rashes on the skin mean laziness. Because if you put your legs in a warm kotatsu and sit idle all day, the skin will have red rashes.

Namahage will peel off the red skin to punish lazy people.

In Akita Prefecture, every New Year's Eve, young people will be organized to wear Namahage masks, straw raincoats and grass skirts, hold wooden swords and wooden barrels, dress up as Namahage, and walk through the streets and alleys while shouting and dancing loudly, visiting each household.

The owner of the household will dress in formal clothes and greet them solemnly, while taking out good wine and rice cakes to entertain them. After that, the young man dressed as "Namahage" will say some blessings, wishing the family good health and plenty of food and clothing in the new year, and then get up and go to other houses.

This is generally the ritual process.

Generally speaking, the Namahage with red decorations on the body is a male ghost, and the blue decorations are female ghosts.

The man outside the door has red beads on his feet, so he must be a male ghost.

I have to say that the drunken words of the guest at table 6 seem to reveal the current situation.

Wow.

The guest at table 6 blushed and pulled open the warm curtain.

Then there was the sound of the outer glass door opening.

The cold wind poured into the entrance hall, sobering up Dong Ye's head, which was drowsy from the warmth in the store.

What?

He scared himself.

The street outside was still the same street, with black cobblestones and white snow on the road surface. The cocoon jade hanging on the roadside swayed in the wind, emitting red and white light.

Everything was normal.

Nothing.

Nothing... nothing...

Including the person who should have been standing behind the warm curtain and the guest who just walked out, they all... did not exist...

Whoosh——

The wind blew down the raised warm curtain, and Dong Ye Sa, who was so frightened that he could no longer make a sound, lowered his head again.

He saw that behind the 20-centimeter gap under the warm curtain, it turned into a thick darkness again, without any light.

The only thing that was clearly visible was the feet.

They were still old, wrinkled, with blood vessels curled, gray-purple and with rashes.

Two pairs, this time there were two pairs.

Facing the store, standing quietly.

The things behind the warm curtain increased.

Higashino Sa wanted to scream and retreat, but his body was no longer under control. His right hand was stiffly raised and pulled a corner of the warm curtain.

Just as this thin layer of curtain was about to be opened from the inside again, a strong wind with moisture came in from the outside of the entrance.

A straw hat rushed into Higashino Sa's sight.

The girl wearing the straw hat was a short girl.

It should be a girl, because the other party rushed in from the outside too fast, and Higashino really couldn't see clearly. But he seemed to catch a glimpse of the girl wearing the straw hat, her smooth skin with a watery green glow, and... her slender feet with webbed feet?

Before Dongye could react, he heard the girl who rushed in front of him from outside shouting:

"Uppercut!"

Then, an irresistible force came towards him. (End of this chapter)