Akita Prefecture.
"Phew, it's so cold."
In the stone alley 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 Higashino Sa, he is 24 years old and a student.
He is a native of Sansan Town, Akita Prefecture.
"Come to think of it, it's already this time."
Yes.
In one week, it will be the Great Dark Day.
The so-called Dahui Day is actually New Year's Eve. The moon is missing as "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 and New Year. As a result, today's "Dahui Day" no longer corresponds to the moon phase, but the corresponding calling methods are still retained.
In Akita Prefecture, a grand celebration ceremony will be held on the night of the Great Dark Day.
That ceremony is called "The Raw Ghost 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, like 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 very 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 building structure 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 in business. As for the scene inside, it is covered by the curtain. Standing outside, you can only see the yellowish light radiating through the cracks of the nori curtain and falling on the stone slabs.
On the road.
"Sorry, I'm late."
Higashino 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 Prefecture during holidays.
The owner of this store is very easy-going and easy to talk to. So he has been working this part-time job until now, and this time he went home for vacation is 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 a crying spirit wandering around Mount Osore...]
[Shocked! A 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. What kind of area can cause this reaction in me?
I can’t tell clearly. But it 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 is 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 in the public eye on the Internet. The initiator of the topic and the discussants below are 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 related content.
In short, the current network environment feels like——
Japan is full of ghosts, and you can bump into ghosts wherever you 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 quite 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 started announcing and passing the dishes as usual.
Maybe because of the snow, there were not 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 sorry for my boss when I think this way, as a part-time worker, Higashino is really happy to have some leisure time 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 a 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 between 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 lights, 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 use your mobile phone while working.
Moreover, Dongye likes to observe others.
However, as a waiter, it would be somewhat impolite to look at the customers in the store while he was distracted, so he placed the objects of observation on the street outside. Those who could 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 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 doesn't know if his little habit of occasionally killing boring time is considered "foot control".
But actually this process of observing the part and then thinking about the whole is quite interesting.
He enjoys it.
Unfortunately, probably because the weather was too cold tonight, I didn't see any pedestrians 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 that.
"OK."
He quickly came to his senses and quickly picked up the food plate that was brought to him.
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 from the gap under the entrance curtain.
Someone is standing outside.
Judging from the posture of those feet, 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.
To be continued...