Suga rechecked the book and looked a little doubtful.

“I don’t know; no owner’s name is written in this book. Let’s check the contents.”

Nellson nodded; Suga then sat on a chair at this table. The two of them then read the contents of this book together.

 

“March 18, 20xx

Today, I came to Kagohara town to participate in the annual festival, my annual activity, as a family member of this town’s shrine administrator. Not much has changed about this town, especially one odd thing: every year, at least one case of a missing person happens. Even though no one said it out loud, all the townspeople from Kagohara village, like me, knew that “Gasokami” was probably the cause. In a few days, the villagers and I plan to carry out the “Gasokami Sacrifice Ritual” to quell the anger of the Guardian gods.”

 

Suga was surprised to read this.

“Just as you thought, Nellson. The owner of this book is a man who voluntarily sacrificed himself.”

Nellson was surprised.

“Why did he do that?”

Suga’s expression turned curious.

“I also want to know the reason.”

Suga continued reading this part of the diary and found several pages with content that caught his attention.

 

“March 19, 20xx

My family from Kagohara village is the caretaker of the shrine built specifically for Gasokami. In my entire life, I have never seen anyone open the locked shrine, except for the leader of our extended family, who was specially chosen and was sworn not to tell what he saw in the shrine as a form of respect for the Guardian gods.

 

Suga read the following page:

 

“March 20, 20xx

The reason I sacrificed myself...”

 

The continuation of this note appears to have been deliberately erased using ink, so it cannot be read. Suga was surprised.

“Somehow, there was a section deleted in this note.”

Nellson looked curious.

“Too bad, that might have been an important clue.”

Suga continued reading the next page.

 

“March 20, 20xx

Today, I and several townspeople who previously lived in Kagohara village practiced performing the sacrifice ritual. Because it hasn’t been done for decades, we are studying it again carefully so that we can do it correctly because none of the people who will carry out this ritual have ever been performers of the ritual before and are only participants.”

 

Suga read the next page.

 

“March 24, 20xx

The ritual will be performed today after several days of practice and preparation. There is a story from Kagohara villagers who say that only certain people have seen Gasokami, according to Gasokami’s wishes. One of them was people who were sacrificed, so no one knows what Gasokami looked like. Kagohara villagers consider Gasokami very sacred, so no one tries to see its paintings in the shrine for fear of suffering bad luck for disrespecting the Guardian gods. Our family leader was chosen as the shrine’s caretaker and the only person looking after the Gasokami shrine interior. Even so, our family leader was very loyal and never told us what Gasokami looked like in the painting because he didn’t want to break his oath. I also heard stories that the Gasokami painter came from hundreds of years ago when Kagohara village was first founded, so it was impossible to get information from him. The Kagohara villagers had too many things to hide about Gasokami, and later generations decided not to continue the culture. With the Kagohara village also abandoned, Gasokami will probably forever remain a mystery. But above all, if today’s ritual goes smoothly, I will be the next person to see Gasokami in person. Something that my whole life felt like an imaginary fairy tale was suddenly about to become a reality... was Gasokami real? This will probably be my last note.

Additional note: not as planned, today’s ritual might have failed because Kagohara village strangely vanished. Because one of the requirements for the success of this ritual is to carry out the opening ceremony in front of the Guardian gods’ shrine. However, the shrine had vanished along with the entire village... how could that be? What really happened? I will stay here tonight to see if the ritual was successful.

Additional note two: I heard something coming….”

 

Suga opened the next page of the book, but the following pages were just blank pages, indicating that they were the last notes written. Suga’s expression changed to surprise.

“That was the last note; he indicated that he saw something.”

Nellson nodded.

“That something, is Gasokami?”

Suga’s expression turned serious.

“This note also indicates that if we perform the ritual, we can meet Gasokami.”

Nellson looked a little surprised.

“Don’t say you want to sacrifice yourself, Suga.”

Suga’s expression turned disturbed.

“I have to stop this curse to save Ishikari and before another victim falls.”

Nellson looked confused.

“It can’t be helped, I’ll follow you.”

Suga was slightly surprised to hear Nellson, then smiled.

“Another way I can think of is to become one of the missing victims too, because I was attacked by the victims who had previously gone missing. But unfortunately, I couldn’t take the risk of waiting too long, especially since I couldn’t be sure that the victim who attacked me would lead me to Gasokami or not. Ishikari must be rescued as soon as possible. For now, performing the sacrifice ritual is the only way.”

Suga turned to Nellson.

“We’re return to the inn for now Nellson. We’re going to do the sacrifice ritual.”

Nellson nodded. Suga walked out of the building, and Nellson then flew after him.

In front of the building, Nellson landed on the ground; black smoke began to billow from all over his body. From behind the black smoke, Nellson reappeared two meters tall. Nellson took off, grabbed the armor on Suga’s back using his armored talons, and took Suga flying with him. They flew higher and higher, disappearing into the night sky’s darkness.

Arrived back at the inn, Suga walked into his room; Nellson, who had returned to the size of an owl in general, flew after Suga and landed on the tatami floor in Suga’s room. Suga closed the wooden sliding double door entrance to his room and opened the other sliding door of this room, which showed the backyard view of this inn, which, even though it was nighttime, was quite brightly decorated with classic Japanese stone lanterns, as well as several modern style garden lights. Suga sat leaning against the corner of the door then took out his smartphone. Nellson walked up to Suga and looked at him curiously.

“What are you going to do, Suga?”

Suga’s attention, focused on his smartphone, turned to Nellson.

“I just feel that what I’m about to do might be dangerous, I’ll make a report to the Association and contact uncle Asano to give him the news.”

Nellson nodded. Suga operated his smartphone and made the report he intended. When finished, Suga then called Asano.

In another place, a person named Asano turns out to be Suga’s driver, who usually takes him. Asano was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, trousers, and loafers, sitting on one of the bar stool chairs at the kitchen bar in a spacious modern minimalist-style kitchen while operating a laptop in front of him with a cup of coffee nearby. Not long after, Asano’s smartphone rang; he took it out of his trouser pocket. Asano was a little surprised when he found that Suga called him. Asano immediately picked up the call from Suga.

“Yes, Mr. Suga?”

Suga answered.

“I wanted to let uncle know that tomorrow, I will do something risky.”

Asano looked a little surprised to hear that.

“Something that is at risk is one of the demands of your job. Should I go there to help?”

Suga smiled.

“No, uncle. I just want uncle to monitor my location in real time tomorrow, because I’m going somewhere remote. If uncle loses my signal location for several hours, I want uncle to immediately ask the Association for backup.”

Asano’s expression turned serious.

“Okay, I understand Mr. Suga.”

Suga and Asano then ended their call.

Suga got up from his seat carrying his investigation documents, then walked towards his luggage in one corner of the room; Nellson watched him curiously. Suga then took out a notebook and started writing. Afterward, Suga opened the notebook he had found previously, entitled “Gasokami Sacrifice Ritual,” which looked dull. Nellson flew and landed near Suga and watched him curiously.

“What are you doing, Suga?”

Suga showed the notebook in his hand to Nellson. Nellson resumed talking.

“That’s the notebook we found earlier.”

Suga nodded.

“That’s right, if I’m going to do the ritual tomorrow, I’d better learn about it, so I don’t have any trouble doing it.”

Nellson looked surprised.

“You say it like it’s a normal thing...”

Suga smiled.

“Do you want to read too?”

Nellson walked closer to Suga and looked at this notebook.

“Of course, I would like to know more about what we will encounter.”