Notes to start: It took a long time for me to rewrite this, but here it is. Sorry for the inconvenience. First to note, is that even when it's written in English, I prefer naming format and everything to stay as it is called in original or its Japanese name, so if necessary, there'll be glossary at the end of a chapter. Next, update will be put in irregularly whenever I've time and mood necessary to write. And finally, as per the usual, review is always welcomed.

Disclaimer: I don't own Touhou Project.

Calm, autumn evening came as the sun slowly sunk in the west, enveloping what was under it with red colored light. Under the sky that was tinted with red and dark blue gradation, another leaf fell down from its trees. Slowly, slowly, it got blown together with the wind, before then finally it landed at shrine stairways and stayed there together with the other fallen leaves and dusts that covered the stairs.

Without even taking a closer look, it'd be easy to say that it gave some discomforting atmosphere. Ghastly, horrific, dirty… there would be many negative words that describe it well. And to be expected, with how the shrine's image was, it wouldn't be weird to find out that there were scarce numbers of people passed by, much more visiting it.

As if disregarding the image of the place, however, a girl visitor slowly climbed up the stairways. Her face showed exhaustion and excitement, and both of it grew by each step she took, foretelling that she was looking forward to this shrine visit. What will she found out? How would the activity turned out? All of the questions came into her mind–

–and yet unfortunately, the view of the shrine ground answered it in the disappointing way; so much that it was enough to turn all of her excitement into disbelieving, deadpan smile.

What reflected on her eyes was how much worse the condition of the shrine compared to the stairways. The pathway that was supposed to be pure white was instead gray from dusts with motives made from real autumn leaves that were scattered all around the front yard. The komainu, which were supposed to be the guardian of the shrine were filled with leaves on their head like a cap. To make it worse, even when it was barely visible, the building itself was so messy, that if there was anything that could be considered clean, it'd be the offertory box that laid at front of the Kagura-den.

"…What a total mess. Has she moved out from here?"

Theories came and filled her mind. But in the end, she decided to come inside the shrine and investigate the cause of it herself like how she always did in her every visit.

It looked like Moriya Shrine was truly out of care today, and the shrine maiden was currently absent for business. Or so the girl visitor, Usami Sumireko, concluded.

-1-

"Nagisa, are you in?"

Calling out for the one who was supposed to be inside, Sumireko didn't bother to wait for response and opened the shrine office building door, as per her usual visiting modus operandi. After she took of her shoes, she then continued to walk in, ignoring the sound of the creaking wooden corridor that came with her every step.

"Weird, there's no response at all. Does she really move away? The door isn't locked though…."

Her mind spoken audibly and her eyes lingered around; looking for the answer of her own question. Dusty wall, dimly imprinted footsteps on the wooden corridor, gentle sounds of wind bell that filled the silence; there were nothing good enough to be an answer since those weren't much different with the usual state of the shrine. And when she arrived in the main room, what came and greeted her was just the same.

Maybe she was out to buy something. As the thought passed her mind, Sumireko walked inside the room and took a seat at front of the tea table that had been there from who knows when. She thought that it wouldn't be productive to look for the sole residence of the shrine further, so she decided to take out her smartphone from her pocket and started browsing to kill some time.

The girl, Usami Sumireko, was a bit different from her peer.

No, that was an underestimation. In truth, she had excluded herself from her peers because of her high level intelligence and her capabilities to use ESP; something that not everyone can achieve and have especially at young age. The simple thought was actually enough for her to have some kind of superiority complex, thus not only excluding herself, she also thought of herself as special compared to the other and couldn't stand of those whom she thought as beneath her.

Obviously, because it came from her own decision, she never thought of it as posing problem. According to her, what she did was like artists secluding themselves to make a masterpiece or scientists secluding themselves to realize their thought and ideas. To put it short, she thought of it as a productive seclusion.

Not that she was oblivious that some were complaining because of it. In fact, she actually knew about the complaints. But because of her personality, it ended up goes in one ear and out the other.

"She sure takes her time…"

An hour had more or less passed ever since Sumireko arrived in the shrine. And in that one hour of the visit, she spent her times scrolling through the smartphone browser to look on what she thought would be useful in her research alone.

Yes, alone. While she was the visitor of the shrine, she did all her activity alone without anything that could be considered as guest treatment from the place residence. That was all because the residence of the shrine was absent in her visit. She got nothing on where she went, so she had decided to wait. But now that it was already half an hour, she started to get a bit irritated.

"It's already six fifty… I wonder where she goes because she usually lays around lazily in the shrine around this time. Though knowing her, a problem or two isn't anything weird…"

Her gaze started to wander away from the phone screen. Several thoughts of usual problem of the shrine sole residence came into her mind. A fight and… well, a fight. That was all she could thought from the sole residence that she thought as reckless, and also in a way, barbaric in her method of problem solving.

Then again, it was nothing that she should be worried at. And if there was anything that she should be worried at, then it'd be the lack of refreshments she had in hands; there was nothing at all on the table.

She already said to just take things out by herself if she wasn't home, so there'd be no problem to go to the kitchen and took some refreshment. With that thought in mind, Sumireko put her phone in her sweater pocket and slowly stood up. She wasn't used to sit using a sit pillow for a long time, so it took around a minute before she finally walked toward the kitchen.

On her path to the kitchen, when she looked at where the other buildings are, it was all covered by nothing but black color. It was truly without lighting and lacked care, that if one said the shrine counted as mystery spots then it'd be easily believed. Even Sumireko herself wasn't an exception when she first came a year ago.

Arrived in the kitchen, what greeted her was the same with the outside; place filled by pitch black. Unlike the outside though, it wasn't without lighting. Pushing the switch beside the door, light immediately filled the room. It was neither dim nor bright, but simply enough to light the room so she could see what inside.

"It's just as poor-looking as usual for home-sized kitchen. Though with how the lamp was off when I arrived here, maybe she had gone out around the afternoon and thought she'd arrive before sunset?"

Mutter came out as she started to look for refreshment. Her eyes wandered around, looking for something worth a note. Unfortunately, she ended up didn't find anything noteworthy. But at the very least, her objective for coming to the kitchen had got fulfilled; she finally found some refreshments in one of the cupboard.

"Hmm… this is a cheap one for rice cracker, isn't it? I guess it's better than nothing."

Saying so with an audible voice, she closed the cupboard door without looking away from the rice crackers. It looked like she was inspecting whether it was still edible or not. It was a bit too much for needless worry, but who'd know the risk of skipping inspection with how the condition of the shrine was?

For the moment, her objective had been fulfilled. Thus, there was no need for her to stay longer in the kitchen. With her eyes still inspecting on the rice crackers, Sumireko turned around–

"Ouch!"

–and there, her head suddenly felt a sharp pain.

It was painful… no, it was excruciating to the point where her balance faltered a bit, and by reflexes, the rice crackers fell to the floor as her hands moved to cover the part where the pain came from.

Throb. The throbbing after effect of the pain lasted for some time until it finally cooled down. Who dared to do that to a harmless junior high school girl? The question came in her mind. Looking for an answer, slowly, she looked up with teary eyes. At first, her vision was a bit blurry from tears. But as her gaze moved up, it slowly cleared up, until there, her eyes met with the eyes of the culprit: a shrine maiden with food box on her hand pointed at her.

"Oh, it's just you. I thought it was a thief."

That was the first thing that came out from the shrine maiden. It bore neither no guilt in its tone, and instead, what came out from her were surprised tone and innocent face that said it was something normal to happen.

Being done without doubt, and treating mistake with innocence. There was no need to say that anyone would get mad with that after being hit in the head. And as Sumireko was an especially aggressive example, her once teary gaze turned into a piercing, angry glare.

"What do you think you were doing!?" While rubbing her throbbing head, Sumireko shouted. "Have you ever thought of what'll happen if it's serious injury!?"

"If you ever get one… now that you said it, what'll I do again, I wonder?"

"You did it without thinking of the consequences!?"

That was surprising. So much to the point that it made her head boil. And yet even with the obvious anger that she showed, the shrine maiden simply shrugged. Leaning down, she nonchalantly took the fallen rice crackers and offered it to Sumireko with the same nonchalant and innocent expression on her face.

"Treat foods more carefully will you? Here, don't drop it again."

"…."

With a deadpan glare, Sumireko glared at the shrine maiden. At the other hand, with innocent confused frown, the shrine maiden stared back at Sumireko while still offering the rice crackers. There were no words coming from either of them, thus what filled the room was silence which was broken by nothing by the sound of wind bell.

It took a moment until it finally be broken by sound of deep breath coming from Sumireko's direction. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Once… and then twice of a deep breath….

"If that's what your priority is, then you need to have your brain checked!"

…before finally, Sumireko's shout completely broke the evening silence of the grave-like shrine.

The shrine once again came into its silence after Sumireko had enough with being angry. At the time, with the problem being half-solved because Sumireko still held grudge at it, the two spent their time in the main room over foods and teas.

Nothing extravagant was spread on the table. Teas were simple green teas, and foods were simply boxed food brought from 24-hours convenience store plus some oranges and rice crackers. Having to deal with both the simplicity unworthy of apologize and the still subtly stinging heat in her head, Sumireko's mood slumped even more than how it was before.

"So why are you coming today?"

The shrine maiden asked while taking a bite of the food. Her expression was calm, indirectly telling that she didn't care about Sumireko's mood in the slightest.

Sumireko gave a voiceless glare as an answer. There wasn't anything weird with it. For someone proud such as her, the nonchalant question was something like an insult. Why because after what was done to her, all she got was just the usual treatment? Not to add, the shrine maiden guiltless attitude just like rubbing salts to her wound.

Still, it was useless. Even if she blew the fuse, it wouldn't solve anything. Just like how it was in the kitchen half an hour ago, where she had shouted her anger only to be treated by the shrine maiden shrug which looked just as light as breathing. In the end, all it gave were fatigue, headache, and sore throat.

She gave up. Now that she thought about it, just how many times had she fallen into this same hole ever since she started to visit the shrine? There's no way she'd want to fall into it again. Pulling one of the tea cup the shrine maiden had served, she lifted the tea cup and took a sip of its contents as she sorted her thought back. It was after she had calmed down that she looked at the shrine maiden and gave her answer.

"It's the usual business visit. Club activity, you know? I want to tell the result of my observations and my findings on my recent visit to the nearby mystery spots."

"…Again?" Surprisingly, the answer made the shrine maiden looked at Sumireko in confusion. "You just did it a week ago. Also, it's already the umpteenth time I told you I'm not part of your shady club."

"That's true. But right now, there's a lot of information that I need to sort out. And even if it's not official, you're still acknowledged as a member, so it's my duty as a leader to come to this countryside shrine to share this with you."

Sumireko proudly said with a sarcastic smirk on her face. Her action alone clearly told her intention; it was repayment for what happened in the kitchen. It wasn't known whether the shrine maiden realized this or not, however. And though at first she almost rebuked, as if saying that it was pain, she ended up didn't say anything and continued to eat after a sigh.

That was pretty easy. The thought passed on Sumireko's mind, and she ended up snorted as her hand reached for the orange in the bowl. While her hand began to peel the orange skin, she continued.

"Anyway, because of that, I want to borrow a room again." As she spoke, her eyes never left the orange. "The usual room is free, right?"

"Of course it is. I actually wonder what kind of weirdo will want to stay here for a day or two, whatever business they have here."

"If you say it like that, it's like claiming that you're one of those weirdo, you know? Or do you actually admit it?"

"At least I live here for work, not for occult activities."

"Take a mirror and look at yourself; you're working in that aspect."

"Ah… huh, I do?"

That was truly a stupid question, so it actually made Sumireko a bit agitated for having to answer that. Not that she had any choice if she wanted the topic to continue, however. Putting the peeled orange skin on the table, her eyes then finally met the shrine maiden's before she gave her answer.

"You do. Actually, what do you think occult is anyway?"

"It's a shady subject which includes looting from abandoned place and graveyards alike… oh, the latter sounds like what people with severe necrophilia would do, isn't it?"

"Wha– That's totally wrong! Go apologize to me and the other with occult interests!"

Bewildered, she failed in keeping her calm and slammed the table as loudly as she shouted. She'd admit that she had done some research on places like that, but calling it looting and even relating it to necrophilia even as a joke are just so wrong in many ways. Her anger was obvious.

Yet even with such an obvious anger coming from her, the shrine maiden didn't give any immediate reply. Instead of doing so, calmly, she used her chopsticks to take the fried chicken from the food box and put it inside her mouth, much to Sumireko's dismay.

"I'm just messing with you, don't worry." The shrine maiden calmly said in the middle of her bite just before Sumireko could protest again. After swallowing the food down, she then continued. "But, well, it's actually what comes to my mind whenever we talk about it."

"Wait, wait a moment! So you do think that our club activities are looting from that kind of place!? That's too far even for a joke!"

"I suppose it is. But it's not wrong, is it?"

"That's totally wrong! If we've to compare it, it's like we're comparing thief to an archaeologist; the difference is like sky and land. Our purpose is far nobler than just taking valuable things for ourselves."

"Do explain it by yourself if you ever get caught by the police officer. I don't want to deal with troublesome things like looting places like that."

"I told you it's not like that! Hear what I say, will you!?"

Sumireko once again slammed her hands on the table as she shouted. And just like before, the shrine maiden simply continued to eat calmly and silently.

Glares were responded by disinterest, and irritation was responded by lulls. That was what filled the table, no, the entire room until the shrine maiden finished her dinner.

"So, you just want to borrow a room, right?"

Tension still stayed in the room when the shrine maiden had started to gather the dirty dishes and thrashes. Sumireko was still in dismay, but business was business. Lifting her tea cup, she nodded and took a sip of its content. It was bitter compared to the orange.

It was simple answer coming from gesture. She understood, so without saying anything, the shrine maiden took a seat when she was done with her task. Serving herself with a cup of tea, she stared at the tea cup for who knows what. After a moment, she sighed without even tasting the tea.

"Oh… fine." Lying down on the tatami mat, she gave her answer with a hand wave. "It's not like I can kick you right now, so do as you wish."

"Huh? So you'll kick me if it's still day?"

"Visitors are still visitors anyway, so I won't. In exchange, serve yourself if you need something. I don't want to bother much if I don't need to."

"When you're being honest about it, it really is no wonder that this shrine becomes so deserted even with someone living here."

Sumireko stated the fact with an irritated smile. Now that she started to recollect all her visits to the shrine, she did serve herself instead of being served and guided unlike what the other shrine does. If there was anything even close to being served, then it'd be how the room was clean whenever she wanted to use it and that there were never a skip in eat time. She didn't even know whether she should complains or not because of it.

In the end, after a short moment of thought, she decided that it wasn't necessary. Putting her tea cup back on the table, Sumireko took her smartphone from the sweater pocket and opened the browser history. With the help of the search feature, it didn't even take minute for her to find what she wanted.

"Anyway, let's get to the business, Nagisa."

She said, and put her smartphone on the table as her finger tapped the table loudly. The room was silence, so it was obviously audible. Thus, responding to Sumireko's call, the shrine maiden reluctantly rose up into a seat with disinterested, exasperated stare.

"What? I'm a bit sleepy, so make it quick."

"Mhm, I know you'll say that. But after I show you what I found, you'll say otherwise."

"Aren't you confident? Oh, whatever. So what do you want to discuss?"

"First, you better take a look at the photo and journal of the mystery spots stated here."

Sumireko pointed at her smartphone that lied on the table. She looked reluctant at first, but after a moment, the shrine maiden sighed and turned her gaze to the phone screen started to scroll the screen as she read it.

The journal was just like the usual reports of sightseeing of vacation place. But instead of the usual vacation place that society visits, what written in the journal was a place known as mystery spots.

Mystery spots. In simpler terms, it's a place where ghosts and spirits are rumored to come out and gather. The place can be anywhere, starting from abandoned buildings like schools and hospitals, to the more obvious one like graveyards where life meets its end. Of course, it isn't limited to only such places. It's said that if a place isn't cared enough, have direct connection to myths, or being historically famous, as long as there are eyewitnesses who saw ghosts or spirits, it'd be slowly but surely turned into one.

For the closest example, there was the shrine where the two had their discussion. It all started from a rumor that ghosts were having feasts there and the fact that the place wasn't anywhere in maps. Thus, the status was granted.

But unlike the shrine, the one written in the journal was well-known place. It was a place with a strong relation to myth, and said to be the gate to where the soul of the dead goes.

Yomotsu Hirasaka.

"Oh, isn't it a famous place?" The shrine maiden said as her gaze turned to Sumireko. "I've gone there like three times before, though I don't remember why... What about it?"

"Oh, you've gone there before? How was it? Did you feel something weird? Or maybe you even see something there?"

"How it felt? Well, nothing unusual. Though I admit some spot made me uneasy, but there was nothing really special. Oh, by the way, it's not lie that ghosts gather there."

"Whoa, it's really one? I thought it's just exaggerated rumors because it's a place written in myths."

"Well, it is true that it's related strongly to Shinto mythology. Hn… I guess maybe that was why I went there before…."

The shrine maiden muttered the last part as she finally took a sip of the tea she served. Seeing her attitude and hearing her answer, Sumireko nodded, before then she looked at the journal with thinking pose.

With this, she finally got a credible answer. Not some doubtful answer from eyewitnesses who could just tell lies because they wanted to be famous or something, but a credible answer coming from trustworthy source. Why? Because the answer came from a genuine shrine maiden who despite her attitude, was actually a real medium between what considered natural and wasn't. She had tested and witnessed it, so she believed that it was the truth, and at the same time, she could take it as credible source for her further researches later.

"Oh, right." The moment she thought about researches, her mind finally caught on something, so she decided to ask right away. "Nagisa, you do know the myth behind Yomotsu Hirasaka, right?"

"Do you mean the one written in Kojiki? I don't know the details, but generally, it's a place where Izanagi no Mikoto sealed its entrance by using a huge boulder when he went away from Yomi."

"Yes, that; it's the one that I know as well. So you do know, huh?"

"It's just common knowledge, nothing surprising about it." Taking another sip of tea, the shrine maiden put down the cup on the table before she continued. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious. I mean, according to the legend, the entrance was sealed by a huge boulder. So what if we can move or break the boulder? Does that mean we can get inside Yomi?"

"Hn… if the myth is true, then yes, I suppose we can get in. But even if it's true, I don't really recommend it."

She gave her answer as her finger traced the cup's lips. That was weird, Sumireko thought. Usually, the shrine maiden wouldn't mind whatever she did as long as she took care of the consequences later. And since it was just myth, the possibility of it being true wouldn't be that big, wasn't it? Question popped out in Sumireko's head. But no matter how hard she thought about it, the answer never came, so she asked again.

"Why? I mean, if we're successful, then that means we've found one real occult place, don't you think?"

"Well, yes, practically we did. But you do know what Yomi is, right?"

"It's… aahh, I see…."

Finally, she understood what the shrine maiden meant by it. The idea behind it was simple, but apparently very crucial if she thought about it, so it was pretty easy to understand.

Yomi is the land of the dead, and right now, the entrance has been closed off. If the myth is true, then if the entrance got opened, no matter how small it is, spirits of the dead will certainly go out like flood from there. The concept is just like a dam that's once fully closed down finally opened. Even a small gap would be critical and could cause unwanted incidents.

If that was the case, then….

"Then what about the ghosts that lingered there?"

"The ghosts that lingered there… as in ghosts that caused the rumor of mystery spots?"

"Yeah. If the entrance is sealed off, then how can the ghosts passed over here? And if they can do that, can we do that as well?"

"Well, there's a method, I guess? But exception aside, it's practically impossible if we're still tied in a living flesh."

"Oh? So there's really a backdoor for it, isn't it? Why don't you say it from earlier? How can we open that door then?"

"Uhh… err, about that…. I wonder where I should start…."

The shrine maiden muttered with the tea cup on her hands. It took a moment of silence and a sip of tea until finally she started to explain.

The explanation was quite complex. But to put it short from what Sumireko caught, the world of the living and the supposedly world of the spirits are separated by some boundary layers. It's the existence of that layers that make communication between the two impossible without the help of a medium.

But even with that, she also added that there are natural occurrences where the layers have holes in it. According to her, it's something like a defense mechanism so there won't be disturbances in the layers, because if either one of the two worlds start to get overloaded by whatever reason there is, the layer will slowly but surely break. That's where the holes act to keep the balance between the two.

Obviously, because of the hole, there'll be both input and output for both sides. It's just like how chemical reactions work. Thus from there comes why ghosts appear in the world of living and why unless by fulfilling the conditions, it's mostly impossible to pass by.

The explanation ended there. A pretty interesting one to hear, even Sumireko admitted that. But now that she heard it, another question came out inside her mind, so she went and asked again.

"If that's the case, then it'll be easier to look for the hole. When is the time that this hole opens?"

"I don't know the exact times, actually. Though as far as I remember, it's supposed to be around dusk and dawn time… and there's also saying that it's happening around two to three after midnight….. Oh well, all of them are just the same as every time to me, so just go believe in whichever."

"What? Don't leave me hanging there, will you? C'mon, give me more details!"

Sumireko leaned forward in curiosity as she asked. But since the shrine maiden stayed quiet upon that and just calmly enjoyed the remaining tea in her cup, the conversation ended with her sulking.

When their discussion ended, the silence returned to the room and its residence went to do their own business. Sumireko stayed in the room and continued on her research, while the shrine maiden went to throw thrashes and wash dishes.

Accompanied by the sound of rarely ringing wind bell from the outside, Sumireko's eyes never left what was laid at the table. With pencil on hand, she noted every important point from the articles, newspapers, and every other sources of information which was laid on the table in her notebook. Sometime, she'd take a break to refresh herself while connecting the points she got for around minutes. And then after she sorted things out, she'd continued on researches again.

Though she didn't get full answer, Sumireko had discovered some important points by the discussion earlier. So in a way, the objective of the current researches was nothing more than confirmations that were needed to be done.

"Hm… with this much eyewitnesses and what Nagisa said earlier, it seems this place really fall to the criteria of mystery spots."

Staring at the mind map, chart, and doodles she made in her notebook, Sumireko muttered. When her eyes looked at the information laid at front of her, her mind processed it. And just like the routine, after minutes, she'd took a deep breath before then once again focused back on her research.

"Now, if it's the real deal, then there must be something that caused ghosts to appear frequently on this place…."

She let her thought went out vocally as her eyes looked around for information. It wasn't only looking, but also trying to unveil the information which lay beyond what was written.

That was what their club does. While at first it was founded to drive people away from her, in the end, she ended up delving deeper into it simply because for satiating her curiosity and self-satisfaction to the point which she took it seriously and called it club activity.

As for the activities itself, they were put into steps as following:

First, she and the shrine maiden would gather some information from wherever they could get. Next, they'd met up in the shrine, and discussed about what they found. After the discussion, there'd be time where she sorted information out and wrapped it all up into theories and planning. Then finally, when the plan had all been put on its track, there'd be a trip to unveil whether the theories were real or simply a false information. Sometime she'd go alone, and at some other time she'd force the shrine maiden to accompany to the location.

Up until now, that was how the club activities went. In a way, it was a club where they collaborate to fulfill a single objective. But in another way, they did things almost independently with barely any help from the others to fulfill that objective.

Perhaps it was because Sumireko had her own schedules and prefer to do most of the researches alone because she'd feel more satisfied that way.

Or perhaps, it was because the shrine maiden rarely want to go too far on their activities and preferred to stay in the shrine for whatever reason she had.

In the end, whatever their reasons were, they still worked under the club name. For Sumireko, it was to feed her pride. And for the shrine maiden, it was to fulfill her interest. Under those reason as pretense, they worked on to unveil the secret of the world.

That was how the club led by Usami Sumireko, the Secret Sealing club, operated.

"Oh, you're still here?"

The moment the shrine maiden arrived after finishing her duty, the question came as she walked inside. She didn't bring anything, so maybe she was just passing by on her walk to the bedroom.

When the shrine maiden walked inside, Sumireko let out a sigh and relaxed her hands. The pencil that was on her hand slowly rolled down from her palm before it stopped by a bowl in its path. Straightened up her back, Sumireko did some stretch up and straighten her legs. Soon after she relaxed her body, she lets out a relieved sigh before then finally turned to the shrine maiden.

"I'm done already. Why do you come? Want to clean this up?"

"Don't treat me like I'm your personal servant or something…." Sighed, the shrine maiden looked around the mess on the table. "Anyway, you're done, right? How is it?"

"Hm… unfortunately, it won't be a lie to say that I don't get that much. But I think I get something out from what we discussed and sorting."

In her relaxed seat, she once again took the pencil and tapped on her notebook before the shrine maiden could even ask. When the shrine maiden looked to where Sumireko pointed, Sumireko immediately started to explain about what she got.

Her explanation started on the blocked boulders of Yomi located in Yomotsu Hirasaka. It was pretty much a summary of the myth, so there was nothing noteworthy. When she finished explaining the summary, she continued on that it's a Mystery Spot and the hypotheses on how ghost gathered there. She also asked for confirmation from the shrine maiden there, which was where she got a reluctant yes. And finally with a grin, she explained the drawings she made from all the information and concluded it all with a pieces of planning.

To put things short, it was just saying that Sumireko finally believed that the place was truly a Mystery Spot, and that it was possibly true that ghosts gathered there even when it acted like tourist spot so she was interested to check it out.

For the shrine maiden, nothing was really important from the explanation. But when it came from Sumireko, she doubted that that was all.

"If that's all, you should sleep and go early tomorrow. It'll be a long trip, so it's better to leave early."

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll take the first train tomorrow. But why did you say it like it's not your business? I've explained about the plan, right? Then it's decided already."

"Well, it isn't my business… but whatever. What is decided?"

"Obviously, we're going there tomorrow!"

The decision came so suddenly. And as if opposing Sumireko's excited grin, the shrine maiden stared at her with nothing but disbelieving, deadpan eyes.

Glossary:

1. Komainu: A pair of lion-dog statues usually placed in Shinto Shrine. It's said its function is to protect the shrine by warding evil spirit.

2. Kagura-den: Building used for ceremonies and offering toward the shrine gods.

3. Kojiki: Old Japan chronicle. Its contents consist of myths, legends, oral tradition, semi-historical account of the origin of Japan archipelago, and Japanese gods.

4. Yomotsu Hirasaka: Mostly known as the gate to Yomi. In this story, it's referenced toward a real life place located in Shimane Prefecture.

5. Yomi: So to speak, it's the land of dead in Japan mythology.