There are two Shinto Shrines located in Buraza Town.
Nanahara Shrine in the south and Mayazaki Shrine in the north. Of the two, Nanahara is the smaller and less visited.
With a smaller size, however, comes along with it a quieter atmosphere.
Taro had visited this shrine once before during the weekend before entering Akademi High as a first year. Looking back on everything , it just seemed funny. While High School had its own challenges, he should consider himself lucky. The adult world is where he'll really need the blessing of a Kami.
It was as quiet as he remembered. The fact that everyone is now dead did little to make him think different. It's almost as if the shrine itself had been frozen in time for the past few years.
This is, however, not the case as Taro gets off his bike. In the distance, he could see what looked to be a child in a yellow raincoat crouched down staring at a growing puddle.
"That child is still alive." With a smile now on his face, he tries to call out to it.
Only for no sound to come out of his mouth. In his mind, Kiseki scolds him.
"You think if that was a real child, he'd be this quiet!? Use your head, Yamada-San! That's obviously another one of those spirits!"
He looked at the figure in the raincoat again. As much as Taro hated to admit it, Kiseki is right.
Ignoring the fact that the mist kills literally everybody it touches, any child that manages to slip through the cracks would feel nothing else but helpless as they see everybody disappear.
He'd be hearing crying and screaming from blocks away.
That thought was enough to shake him a little. At least he knows that he still has his sanity. Whatever's left of it anyway.
Kiseki speaks to him again. "Hey, this could be a great time to test out that bow of yours."
Taking a deep breath, Taro moves out of sight so that he could get a clearer shot at his target. That's the key word: target. Not child.
"I've never shot a bow before." He whispers to Kiseki as he grasps his bow.
"I figured." Said Kiseki. "But what are you so worried about? You got ghostly powers on your side. If you mess up, I'll be sure to help you!"
Taro takes another deep breath. He remembers the spirit with the machete. If it wasn't for Kiseki, he'd be dead. Just when he thinks that he's learned everything there is to know about his situation, something new is thrown at his face and the whole thing starts over.
Almost like… a video game.
That was the thought running through his head as he shot the arrow he's holding. It went right through the target. For a moment, he thought he could hear a child's shriek, but as soon as the enemy faded into nothing, he knew he did what needed to be done.
"Good job, man." He hears Kiseki praise him. "Who knows how ugly it would have gotten if you just attacked it normally."
Putting his bow away, Taro shook his head.
"Let's head inside."
"It doesn't make any sense!"
"Huh? What doesn't?"
A shelter from the rain was a warm welcome for Taro, but the hospitality was short lived as he replayed the recent event in his head.
He speaks to Kiseki. "All Jack Lieber had thrown at us were angry office workers! What the hell is he doing sending CHILDREN our way!?"
"Hmm…" Kiseki thinks for a moment. "Overworked employees… aren't everything that's plaguing Japanese society. Maybe what we've just seen is a creature born from a child that went through some kind of… abuse.
Yeah… abuse. You kind of never see it going on, but we can't say it's something that doesn't happen."
"Oh…" Taro looks up at the ceiling. "If Jack's plan is to wear me down mentally… It's working. I sometimes ask myself what the hell is the point of going on!?"
"Yamada-san." Said Kiseki. "Back when I was living a normal middle schooler's life in Japan… I get depressed just like you. It was this one cartoon that… I was taught to always remember to find comfort in the smallest of things. Am I making any sense?"
Taro sighs. "Yeah, you watch cartoons." He shook his head. "I'll have plenty of time to think about what I want to do next when this whole thing's behind us. Maybe I'll write a book about my experience… Yeah, that's it. Nihon's best selling author. A survivor's tale of the Buraza… Disappearances. I'll think of a better title later."
Right in front of him is a stone statue of Buddha, but it's what's right beside it that he's most interested in.
An amulet commonly sold in Japan. Known as an omamori.
As he heads back outside, Kiseki questions him.
"What good is THAT going to do you?"
Taro points in front of him. "That Torii gate over there… Many people say that they stand for the transition from the mundane to the sacred. Jack Lieber told us he was originally from Nihon, I suspect these play a role in the deadly fog."
He holds up his newly acquired amulet. "Playing into this man's logic… Something that is said to provide protection from harm, this omamori, should fix the gate and get rid of the fog.
I know there's a slim chance of this actually working, but it's the only one we got."
"It's a good theory." Said Kiseki. "I don't think I'd be able to come up with anything like that if I was in your shoes… I'd probably-AAAHH!"
Kiseki and Taro both screamed in unison.
They could feel the cold touch of somebody touching their shoulder.
As Taro turned around to face his aggressor, he could only take a step back as fear overtook him.
Standing right in front of him is a woman over two meters tall. She has long black hair and wears a white trench coat and matching hat along with a face mask.
But the thing that Taro found himself fixated on is the large pair of scissors in the woman's right hand. A long time ago, he could remember his mother telling him stories of a woman just like this but surely this can't be any more than a coincidence. There's just absolutely no way a folktale like this can actually be staring him down.
"Am I pretty?"
There's now no more doubt in Taro's mind.
The woman looking down at him is a spirit known as the Kuchisake-Onna. From what he's been told, she always seeks validation from her victims before mutilating them with her scissors.
He could only imagine the pain coming his way. So he did what he believed was the best course of action: run. "AAAHH!"
As he sprinted away from the spirit, there was only one thing that was on his mind and that was survival. Who cares who this woman used to be, or what she went through, or how angry she is towards people, if he dies here, what would tracking down Ayano be for anyway? He won't accept death before seeing her again.
"Don't you run from me, boy!" He hears her call out.
Without thinking, he looks back to see her leap a great distance. Almost instantly closing the gap between the two.
Taro then ran faster than he'd ever have in his life. In the back of his mind, he knew he had to fight her just like he did with those office worker spirits. He was, however, too scared to raise a hand. If anything goes wrong, he'd be paying for it with his life.
It was then that he heard Kiseki shout out.
"A PROPANE TANK! WE'RE IN LUCK!"
Huh? A propane tank? They have those in Shinto Shrines? This is news to him.
Kiseki raises Taro's arm and shoots once. Taro stares wide-eyed at the explosion that immediately followed. Just where was this propane tank?
He then sees flames start to engulf the Kuchisake-Onna. Her basked burned away, revealing her scarred mouth beneath.
Her face now exposed, she grins at Taro.
"I'm pretty hot, aren't I?"
That grin was wiped off her face within a second as Taro utilizes his bow. His second to last arrow plunges itself deep within her shoulder, making her drop her scissors.
Ignoring the sorrowful look the Kuchisake-Onna was giving him, Taro felt nothing but scorn for the spirit as he aims his last arrow right for her forehead.
"Shi-ne!" He shouts out before firing. The arrow hits its mark and the Kuchisake-Onna was no more.
In his head, he could hear Kiseki cheering.
"Yeah! Way to go, man! You did it!"
Taro sighs before strapping his bow back into place. Those were his last arrows. It's a real shame he couldn't reuse them as they disappear along with the spirits they're shot at. He doesn't have even the slightest idea where he could get more, but he'll have to find some soon. Otherwise, the bow he's carrying is going to start slowing him down.
Reaching into his pants pocket, he takes out two objects; the omamori from earlier, and a 500 yen coin.
Without saying anything to Kiseki, he goes on to throw the amulet at the nearby Torii gate, where it landed on the other side. In the moments that followed, he could see a bright light illuminating the gate as it started to inhale a large amount of the deadly fog.
It should be safe to get to Ayano's house now.
Seeing the omamori on the ground, he goes ahead and picks it up. He'll never know when he'll need it again, so it's best to keep it just in case.
He speaks to Kiseki. "Don't you think it's kind of strange for there to be something like a propane tank just laying around at a Shinto Shrine?"
Kiseki was quick to answer. "The propane tank I was speaking of is actually consisting of matter from what I'd like to call 'The Spirit World.' Must have leaked into your world when Jack Lieber attacked."
"I see." Taro sighs again as he clenches the coin in his hand. He walks over to a nearby saisen bako and drops it in. Hearing a satisfying clank when it reaches the bottom.
The 'Rule of Five' is something that had not escaped his mind. 'Five' in Japanese has an association with the word 'go-en.' Meaning: good fortune. Japanese is a beautiful language.
Taro closes his eyes as he joins his hands in prayer. Just for a moment, he shuts himself off from the world. Both inside and outside of Buraza Town.
'Oh Kami…
I pray to you today as a lost soul. One in need of your guidance.
The situation that you've placed in front of me is quite the experience that you have given me the privilege to walk through.
While I can only guess on what your plan is for everybody who you have taken from me, I have no doubt in my mind that the answer is greater than what even I can comprehend.
I also have no doubts that there are new challenges waiting for me.
I pray to you to grant me the power to get through whatever they may be;
And I may be eternally grateful.
That… is my prayer to you.'
After bowing to complete his prayer, he opens his eyes. Feeling much better than when he entered the shrine.
With the new state of mind, he walks over to his bike.
There are places he needs to be.