Chapter 606 – Ghost Catching Game
The old and the young slowly walked to the vermillion colored torii at the entrance of the shrine and bowed deeply in respect.
Afterwards, they stood up, walked through the torii, walked to a pool called the hand water house, used the wooden spoon inside to scoop up water, washed their hands and rinsed their mouths before walking towards the idol of the Great Black Sky, which was enshrined as the first of the Seven Gods of Fortune.
In front of the idol, a long line had already formed.
The clear dangling bells echoed in the shrine one after another, and the two of them slowly moved along with the line, finally arriving in front of the statue of the Great Black Heavenly God.
Yuzu Rina and Grandma Tsuru stood side by side, first bowing lightly in front of the idol, then Yuzu Rina reached out and grabbed the pendant bell hanging above her, and gently shook it.
Ding–!
The bell rings, and she takes five yen out of her pocket and slips it into the box to represent a bond with the god.
They look up at the statue of the great black sky god, and at the same time bend down and bow deeply twice, extending their hands out in front of them and clapping them together twice, bowing deeply again.
”Kind and powerful God of Blessings, Great Black Sky, please receive our prayers.
You are the God of War from the other side, you are the nemesis of all evils, you bring peace and happiness to the earth and dispel all bad luck and ominous …… Please keep us away from calamity and ominousness and give us happiness and hope.
May your blessed light shine on the earth.”
Yuzurina finished her prayer and slowly stood up straight.
Beside her, Grandmother Tsuru remained bent over, her silver-white hair hanging down beside her pale cheeks as she murmured in a voice only she could hear:
”I hope little Yuzuru-nee will have a happy and wonderful future ……”
Yuzurina didn’t hear what Grandma Tsuru was saying, she just gently tugged on the hem of Grandma Tsuru’s coat and whispered, “Grandma Tsuru, we should get going, there are people in line behind us.”
Grandmother Crane stood up and smiled at her before walking backwards with her.
The two had just reached the entrance to the shrine when they saw four or five figures on the street across from the shrine, gathered together, lighting cigarettes and talking while sweeping their eyes over the surroundings as if they were looking for something.
Yuzurina’s gaze caught sight of them, and her entire body suddenly trembled!
Grandma Crane looked at her suspiciously and asked, “Little Yuzurina, what’s wrong with you? Are you not feeling well?”
”No …… no.” Yuzurina’s face turned a little white.
After a moment of silence, she looked up and said seriously to Grandma Crane, “Grandma Crane, I want to go to the surrounding stores to buy something, can you go back by yourself first?”
Grandma Crane was stunned.
”You go back first, okay?” Yuzurina said again, her expression slightly anxious.
”Okay. ……”
Grandma Crane didn’t understand what was happening, and just nodded.
The corner of Yuzurina’s mouth squeezed out a smile as she waved her hand at Grandma Crane and quickly ran towards the small store next to the shrine, her figure gradually disappearing behind Grandma Crane’s field of vision.
Although Grandma Crane was a bit puzzled, she shook her head and took a step towards the door of the shrine.
She walked through the vermillion-red torii and onto the street, hobbling and walking slowly in the direction of the container.
At the moment, across the street, the men gazed at Grandma Tsuru and quickly shifted away, their menacing gazes once again fixing on the gate as they took a deep drag on their cigarettes and hurled insults:
”Didn’t you say you saw that girl go into the shrine? Why hasn’t she come out by now?”
”It was a brother who saw it, she went in with an old lady, it shouldn’t be wrong.”
”This shrine has only one exit, surrounded by high walls, she can only come out from here, there’s no other way.”
”Wait a little longer, it should be out soon.”
”……”
Shrine.
Yuzurina cautiously poked her head out of the small store, and when she saw the figures sitting across the street, her face became bitter.
”Why are they still ……” she muttered.
Yuzurina’s gaze swept around, this shrine is surrounded by high white walls, not to mention she is a little girl, even if two adult men step on the shoulders may not be able to go over, there are no trees around, there is no possibility of escaping over the wall.
Can only use the front door to go out?
She frowned and looked at the figures, the light in her eyes flickered as if she was pondering something.
”Little girl, what are you standing here for? Are you buying something? Don’t block others if you don’t buy anything!”
The owner of the small store saw Yuzu Rina standing sneakily at the entrance of the store, not buying anything, and blocking the way of other customers to enter the door, and was immediately a bit irritated.
Yuzurina turned around and made a “shush” gesture to him, her eyes swept across the store, and after a moment of hesitation, she nodded heavily.
”I’ll buy something!”
”Tch, how long has it been in there?” The menacing man sitting across the street stood up impatiently, “Let’s rush straight in and find her!”
”Brother, you can’t go crazy, causing trouble in a shrine is a felony!”
”We’re originally gangsters, our heads are hanging from our pants, are we still afraid of being caught by the police?”
”Brother, this is different!”
The ferocious man in the lead was about to say something else when a young man next to him suddenly stood up:
”Look! She seems to have come out!”
Everyone turned their heads at the same time to look, only to see a short figure clad in a black raincoat, dashing down the steps and running towards the other side of the street.
The vicious man froze.
”She should have discovered us and wanted to use this method to confuse us, what a …… child’s trick.” He sneered and said, “Go after her!”
As soon as his words fell, three more short figures clad in black raincoats rushed down the steps, laughing and joking as they rushed in the opposite direction of the street.
These four black raincoats were identical, and they were running so fast that they couldn’t see their faces very well at all, and this sudden turn of events left several people frozen in place.
”Brother, which one should we catch?” The young man spoke blankly.
”Damn it, split up and chase!” The vicious man pulled his leg and chased in the direction of the three children, then as if he thought of something, he stood in place again, “No, you guys split up and chase, I’ll continue to watch here.”
”Good!”
The other few punks spread out and chased along both sides of the street, the vicious man hesitated for a moment before clenching his teeth and simply rushed up to the shrine with big strides and went in to search.
Can’t have a conflict in the shrine, then he should be fine if he goes in and turns around, right?
When he had thoroughly searched the top and bottom of the shrine and still hadn’t found Yuzurina’s figure, he scratched his head in exasperation and cursed angrily a few times.
Just then, his cell phone suddenly rang.
”Hello?”
”Brother, I caught that kid who ran out alone at the very beginning on my side, it’s a boy, not that girl!”
”Asshole! What the hell is going on here?”
”This little boy said that there was a little girl about his age who just said she wanted to play ghost catching with them, and gave one person two lollipops, saying that it was more fun to play with a raincoat on ……”