Chapter 059 Chapter 59
Li Mei was staggering along the dark and secluded path. Suddenly, something tripped her and she fell to the ground.
Li Mei stood up with one hand supporting the ground, holding a fruit knife in the other hand. She was breathing slightly rapidly, and her chest kept heaving.
"It looks like you can live a long time." 'Aburano Eito' smiled at Rimi. The girl was sweating a lot, and her bangs were stuck to her forehead. Rimi, an underground idol who always maintained her image, looked extremely ugly at this time. Her makeup had almost fallen off, and her clothes were stuck to her body because of sweat. She was dirty all over, and there were ugly wounds on her palms.
This is the real Rimi, and the double Rimi was "killed" by herself.
At that time, Reino screamed and ran away, and Miyuki started chasing after her. Rimi wanted to follow her, but was stopped by the doppelganger Aburano Hideto, and then she saw another version of herself.
Another self holding a fruit knife with murderous intent.
That person rushed towards Li Mei fiercely.
At that time, Li Mei's mind was blank. Seeing a face that was exactly the same as her own made her stand still. When the double rushed in front of her and the threat of death came, Li Mei didn't think twice. The instinct of self-preservation made her reach out and grab the knife.
The knife cut her skin, causing a sharp stinging sensation, but the pain was only momentary and soon disappeared. Li Mei didn't know why. Maybe her pain nerves were numb? She didn't understand these things. At that time, Li Mei only wanted to get the knife back.
Risking the possibility of getting scars on her hands, Li Mei snatched the fruit knife and then stabbed it into the chest of the doppelganger without mercy.
From stealing the knife to counterattacking the opponent and killing him with one blow, it took less than half a minute. Li Mei acted without any hesitation. Among the three people, she, the idol who looked the most dignified and ladylike, was much more likely to be ruthless than the other two.
The clean and sharp cut was so impressive that even 'Aburano Hideto' couldn't help but applaud and praise Rimi for her beautiful work.
The fake double body Rimi was injured in the vitals and disappeared, and the next one is 'Aburano Hideto'.
Li Mei's palm was bleeding, and the blood made the handle of the knife sticky and slippery. She had a difficult grip, so she could only use her fingers to hold the handle, staring at 'Aburano Hideto' vigilantly, intending to counterattack if the opponent attacked.
However, 'Aburano Hideto' just shrugged and said that he would not attack Rimi.
"You are your doppelganger's prey, not mine," explained 'Aburano Eito'. "I can work with her, but I won't attack you directly."
Li Mei's face turned pale: "She is dead."
Aburano Hideto chuckled. "Do you think that an ordinary fruit knife can completely get rid of the doppelganger? You are too naive. That guy will appear again. As long as there is a gap in your heart, she will definitely come back to you."
Li Mei was puzzled: "There is a gap in my heart? What does that mean?"
"Literally." 'Aburano Eito' laughed wickedly, "I won't explain too much to you."
Rimi stared into the eyes of 'Aburano Eito'. She didn't believe what the doppelganger said, but she was injured now. If the other party really took action, there was a high chance that he would succeed. Since he didn't take action, maybe it was true?
"Then what are you still doing here?" Li Mei said again, "Aren't you going to find your true self?"
'Aburano Eito' waved his hands in disgust: "No, that guy wouldn't live to see tomorrow even if I didn't mess him up."
The double body is born from the negative emotions of the original body, most of which contain self-denial.
Thoughts like "I'm so useless", "I can't do anything right", "What's the point of living", "I might as well die", "Everyone is better than me", "I can't play any role", etc. can easily lead to the birth of a doppelganger.
But what's even more interesting is that those who truly want to die won't produce a doppelganger. For those who can make a doppelganger appear, these negative thoughts will only linger in their minds instead of actually wanting to die.
The doppelganger understands the original's pessimistic thoughts, and at the same time despises the original's self-pity.
In the eyes of 'Aburano Hideto', the real Aburano Hideto is a cowardly, incompetent and very inferior guy.
"That guy is probably at the shrine." 'Aburano Hideto' said, "He will definitely be dragged along by the shrine maiden and buried with her."
Li Mei heard the hidden meaning in the man's words: "Can you know the location of the original body?"
Aburano Hideto shook his head: "I can only know the approximate location."
Li Mei slowly put down the knife. The man did not make any suspicious movements. He seemed tired from holding the knife up all the time.
After that, when Rimi turned around and was about to leave, Aburano Hideto followed her a few meters behind, saying something sarcastically: "Hey, aren't you going to bandage the wound? You'll die if you bleed too much."
Li Mei's palm moved, and she pressed her palm against her abdomen, waiting for the bleeding to stop.
After walking for a while, 'Aburano Eito' said again: "Don't you want to rest for a while? You will die if you faint."
Li Mei felt that she had used up most of her energy, so she stopped to rest for a while.
After getting up and moving, 'Aburano Hideto' spoke again: "Are you going to the shrine? That's not a good place. If you're not careful, you'll be buried with the shrine maiden."
Li Mei ignored him.
Then, at the beginning, Rimi fell down, and 'Aburano Hideto' said that she could live for a long time.
It's really annoying.
Li Mei slowly sat down, holding onto a tree, completely ignoring the existence of this doppelganger.
Li Mei didn't know why the other party was staring at her. Maybe he was waiting for her doppelganger to appear again? But since he didn't make a move, Li Mei didn't plan to take the initiative to attack.
She was already very tired and very sleepy.
If possible, she really wanted to lie here and take a nap. But she couldn't do that yet, she had to go find Reino and Miyuki.
If three people came together, they should go back together.
If only I hadn't been separated from those three college students, they would be in a safe place now, waiting for the next train to go home.
Li Mei shouldn't have agreed to Reino's proposal at that time.
What could be more important than life?
"You plan to go find those two girls? Forget it, they may be dead." 'Aburano Hideto' continued to rant, "It's very dangerous here, especially the shrine, which is more dangerous than the town. Hmm? Do you want to solve the monsters there? Find that place is the core?"
"The core?" Rimi perked up a little and looked at Aburano Eito. "You mean, that shrine is the core?"
"Oops, I let it slip." Although he said this, there was no expression of "I said something wrong" on his face. Instead, he was full of excitement. "Do you want to know? It's a very cruel story."
'Aburano Hideto' raised an eyebrow at Rimi, as if to say, "I'll tell you if you beg me."
Li Mei looked away in disgust.
'Aburano Hideto' sighed: "Okay. It seems that you are not very interested, so I will tell you too! Because it's boring!"
Unlike the original, this doppelganger clearly had a strong desire to express himself. He cleared his throat and slowly recounted the story of the shrine.
The story of this shrine can be divided into two parts, one is far back in the Heian-kyō period, and the other is in the Showa period several decades ago.
First, let’s talk about the Heian-kyō period, which was a time when worshipping gods was very popular. Many well-known festivals today originated from that period, and various legends about gods and ghosts were also the most common during that period.
There are many ways to worship gods, and the offerings are also varied. Among the many kinds of offerings, ignorant people firmly believe that pure girls are the best offerings to gods.
The girl will be dressed up in her best clothes, put on a sedan chair, and sent to the place of sacrifice. People will choose different methods such as throwing her from a cliff, burning her, or flooding her to "send" the girl to the side of the gods.
The chosen girl is called the bride of God.
In some areas, there is a practice of selecting newborn baby girls, raising them as shaman maidens, and then sending them for sacrifice.
This is how it is in this place. Every fifteen years, a priestess is offered sacrifice to the gods, praying for good fortune and favorable weather.
Everything went smoothly. But one year, before the witch turned ten, she died of illness before she could be sacrificed.
This has never happened before. Girls who are chosen to be shrine maidens are not raised by their biological parents from birth, but by all the villagers. They eat the best food, use the best things, and live a refined life every day. Even a cough will require someone to check nervously. If they fall, the maid who takes care of the shrine maiden will be severely punished, because girls who are offered to the gods must be flawless, and they do not accept any scars on the shrine maidens.
This is sincerity towards God.
The girl is like a carefully cared-for pig.
Losing lives before slaughter is not only a loss, but also a panic. People are afraid of being punished by the gods if they do not have sacrifices on the day of the sacrifice.
The villagers were panicking about choosing another shrine maiden, but unlike the girl who had been abandoned since childhood, the children of other families were raised properly and had feelings for her, so they were not willing to give her away. In order to choose the right person, the village argued until the time for the sacrifice. At this time, a group of people passed by and stopped here for a short while.
"That's the wandering shrine maiden." said Aburano Hideto.
Wandering shrine maidens were not uncommon. They were born as common people and traveled around in groups. When they were needed to help with sacrifices, they would stop and help. At the same time, these shrine maidens had certain medical knowledge and would help the villagers treat diseases. Of course, in that period, it was also called exorcism.
The arrival of the wandering shrine maidens saved the village, because at that time the selection of shrine maidens was very strict. Only those with decent appearance and pure and flawless appearance could become shrine maidens who communicated with the gods.
They meet the conditions for sacrifice.
"There were four wandering shrine maidens in total," said Aburano Hideto. "One became a sacrifice. One became a human pillar when the shrine's pillars collapsed. The remaining two drowned themselves."
The so-called human pillars are people used as sacrifices during construction and buried under the building to ensure that the building will not collapse in the future.
"The above is the story that happened during the Heian-kyō period." 'Aburano Eito' looked at Rimi, "Is the story interesting?"