"Did you really count wrong?" The police officer rubbed his chin with a troubled expression. "That's strange, then. The evidence provided by the shrine clearly shows that only seventeen children were sent here, but this girl Matsuko insists she saw eighteen girls at the Miko Festival. Who on earth is lying? If nobody is lying... then just who is this extra girl?"
A strange, eerie atmosphere hung heavy in the air. Neither the Shinto priests nor the elderly miko of the shrine seemed like they were lying, nor did the girl Matsuko. So where had this extra girl seemingly materialized from? Could it be a ghost?
Far back in the Edo period, similar rumors had circulated. While miko processions brought peace and health to families and townspeople, they also carried a certain magical curse power—a power capable of attracting wandering ghosts from the deep mountains. Born of lingering grudges and having lived deeply unhappy lives, these ghosts craved redemption in death, making the miko festival double as a kind of summoning ritual.
Chapter 644