It was just getting dark, and the bamboo forest, shrouded in twilight, was quiet and secluded.
The gurgling stream meanders from the depths of the forest to somewhere unknown. Under the dim and swaying shadows of the trees, someone seems to be spying on the human world. The chirping of insects and the calls of some creatures constitute the main theme of the forest, but sometimes, silence envelops everything.
Lu Ban looked at the night sky. Covered by a light mist, he could hardly see any systematic constellations. There were only a few stars shining stubbornly.
The moon was hidden in deeper clouds, and Lu Ban couldn't even tell whether the moon ticket in this world was round or not.
A festival was being held on the island. The whole street was filled with lanterns and there were various street vendors, some selling candy apples, some scooping goldfish, and some selling masks. The sound of mysterious music echoed in the street, but no one was seen playing the music.
Lu Ban walked through the crowd, passing by many men and women in kimonos. All the happiness was theirs, and he had nothing.
However, Lu Ban noticed that, apart from the artists who were indulging in joy, the children, girls, and old men who looked like locals all had a kind of indifference in their eyes, as if they were performing to match the atmosphere, and their poor acting skills could not make up for their essential indifference.
He came to the end of the street, where a path extended towards the bamboo forest. It was obvious that this was the way up the mountain.
The Kazushima Shrine does not seem to be open to the public at night, and no one goes up or down the mountain.
Lu Ban saw that at the foot of the mountain, under the red torii, Hongye was standing there.
She was still wearing the kimono with arrow feather patterns, a dark blue long skirt, and long boots, but there was a fox mask hanging next to her head, which added a bit of purity to her look.
"The bamboo forest is dangerous at night, especially now."
When she saw Lu Ban, Hongye did not say hello, but turned around and went up the mountain. She was holding a lantern in her hand, and the dim light illuminated the road, which was unsettling.
The road up the mountain is a bit bumpy, and the bamboo forest next to it is sparse and quiet.
"Strange, why is there no sound in the bamboo forest?"
It is now midsummer on the island, but there is no sound in the woods. The festival streets are fading away, and the whole world has fallen into silence.
“Don’t fall into the shadows, walk in the light of the lantern.”
Hongye reminded, raising the lantern slightly.
Lu Ban saw that the bamboos seemed to become more dense.
This reminded him of the grasslands outside the abandoned city, those living, wildly growing plants.
I can't help but feel a little familiar.
When the two reached halfway up the mountain, they saw a series of torii gates.
This kind of building, which is said to be the gate connecting the two worlds, can be found everywhere on the road up the mountain, forming a tunnel and making the road even darker.
As he walked into the Torii, Lu Ban seemed to hear some sound coming from behind him.
He looked back and seemed to see a flash of red skirt and white socks on wooden clogs in the dark shadow.
"That is..."
Lu Ban couldn't help but stop. The lights of the red leaves in front of him were slightly away from him.
Something seemed to pull his trouser leg, and Lu Ban lowered his head.
A pale hand retreated into the shadows.
He felt the darkness around him grow deeper.
There was music in my ears.
The shamisen, shakuhachi, and the mournful music of the Japanese island style are mixed with whispers like chanting.
"...Pray to God, in this life, my body is sad, and my dream is gone..."
It was like someone was whispering in his ear. Lu Ban felt his scalp tingling and he turned his head quickly the moment the whispering disappeared.
But there was only darkness all around.
In Lu Ban's vision, there was only the road under his feet and the torii gate on the road. He could only see the distance within his reach. Beyond that, there was only silence and darkness.
"Red leaves?"
Lu Ban tried to shout, but even his voice blended into the darkness and there was no response.
He looked around and could only roughly make out the direction up the mountain.
There was no telling what lay beyond the darkness that enveloped the road.
"Anyway, he shouldn't be dead yet?"
Lu Ban climbed up, the Torii gate came into view and then moved away. These dilapidated buildings seemed to be covered with dirt. Lu Ban didn't know what had splashed the dirt there or how.
In the endless darkness and silence, Lu Ban walked for about three hundred heartbeats, but found himself still between the torii gates.
"Is it another ghost wall?"
Lu Ban thought about it, squatted down, picked up a stone, made a five-pointed star mark on the torii, and then continued to move forward.
With every step, when the darkness became brighter as the distance got closer, Lu Ban had to tense up, worried that something strange might run out of the shadows.
It’s like walking on the road at night when I was a child. It was pitch black outside the lights, and I had to take every step carefully, for fear that something hideous and terrifying would suddenly appear on the road.
He was originally planning to continue walking for another 300 heartbeats, but when he counted to 233, Lu Ban stopped.
He saw the five-pointed star mark he had just left on the torii gate nearby.
And, underneath that five-pointed star sign, there is another sign.
It was a symbol that seemed to be drawn casually, but was full of strange meaning.
"...There is someone else on this road, and he has found my mark. Is it red leaves? Or is there something else..."
Lu Ban thought about it, and after thinking for a while, he decided to go down.
Just as he turned around and took a step down, as the view in front of him lit up, Lu Ban saw that there was a person standing next to the torii in front.
The person was wearing a red and white shrine maiden costume, which was spotless. Her black hair fell softly behind her head and her face was pale, which reminded Lu Ban of the pure glass doll hanging in the sky that he had seen during the day.
She stared at Lu Ban, with a look of resentment in her eyes.
"You got me here?"
Lu Ban stopped and asked.
The other party said nothing, but slowly took two steps back and disappeared into the darkness.
Lu Ban did not rashly leave this road full of torii gates. Although it seemed that he could only go in a loop here, walking out was obviously not a good option.
He continued down for more than a hundred heartbeats.
Then I saw that there seemed to be another mark on the torii gate next to it.
That is Lu Ban’s own five-pointed star.
However, the position of the five-pointed star that Lu Ban originally marked should be facing the downhill road, but now, the five-pointed star is actually facing the uphill road.
"Has the torii changed, or are these all hallucinations?"
Lu Ban took a step forward and looked at the back of the torii.
There are shocking scratches on the mottled and peeling red paint surface. Those scratches are not made by sharp claws, but seem to be made by human hands scratching over and over again. Under the peeling red paint surface is an even richer blood color!
It is conceivable that there really was a priestess who got lost on this road. She experienced this repetitive cycle over and over again, and eventually her sanity collapsed, she became completely crazy, scratched the torii gates with her fingers, and finally left the road, never to return here.
The darkness around him grew thicker, and the temperature of the midsummer night made Lu break out in a sweat. The sweat soaked his clothes, sticking them to his skin, which was unpleasant.
Lu Ban suppressed his wandering thoughts and took a few steps forward.
Suddenly, I felt a strange feeling under my feet, as if I stepped on a hard, protruding object. It was definitely not a stone, but something curved and crispy.
Lu Ban looked down.
There is a mask there.