Subaru

Chapter LVIII.

That's right!

I had read something about it in one of Master Kagami's books.

The Shichinin misaki were a group of seven ghosts of people who have died from an accident or calamity. They appeared together as a group of seven ghosts and people who encountered them experienced high fever and eventually, died.

Their number never increased or decreased since, by killing one person, one of the ghosts was able to find peace and, in its place, the human who died became one of the Shichinin misaki.

'You think that it's the Shichinin misaki?!' said the old man, tensed. He became thoughtful for a minute, before he acknowledged, 'Yes! It is well the way that they operate!'

'We need to to perform a service to exorcise the afflicted members of your family and help the Shichinin misaki find peace,' Agasa told him. 'We're lucky that you're a priest. Can you make all the arrangements necessary?'

'Yes! Yes!' he replied, urgently and getting to his feet, he got to work immediately.

After all the preparations were done and all the seven ailing members of his family were regrouped within the same space, we started the service.

Incenses were burnt and the old priest chanted Buddhist sutras.

We waited for a few hours to see the outcome, but to our great disappointment there still was no change in the ailing members of the Daidōji family's condition.

This made us dead anxious.

We had found the cause of their illnesses, but no way to heal them.

'I was thinking about something, you know,' Agasa told me, suddenly, as we were sitting under the veranda of one of the buildings. 'There are many legends about the progenitor of the Shichinin misaki, going from a military commander to female high school students, but I've never read anything about this group of ghosts in this region. There's no river or sea in the environ either.'

My eyes widened at her. 'You think that someone could have invoked them here?'

'That's what I fear. We have both seen the reactions of the villagers earlier. And it's only the members of the Daidōji family who have been afflicted.'

'The only person who can make the ghosts leave is most probably the very one who has invoked them. We need to find that person before it's too late. The problem is that it can be anyone in the village.'

'Not necessarily. Not everyone has the right knowledge about how to invoke and control such powerful ghosts. Let's ask the old Buddhist priest if he knows someone who comes out of the ordinary that could match the profile!'

We went to question Shūshin Daidōji about it immediately.

'Now that you mention it, there is that man, Udzuki Naru. He has always asserted to be able to see spirits and he grows all kind of strange herbs in his garden. But why are you asking me this? Do you think that someone could have laid this curse onto my family?'

'It's highly plausible,' replied Agasa, reluctantly.

The old Buddhist priest held his face in his hands, shaking his head.

'My! This is all my fault! I feel so guilty for what the members of my family have been going through because of me!'

'No, please, don't blame yourself for what's happening!' I told him. 'You didn't do anything wrong! I admire you a lot for what you did! You're an honorable person! You can't imagine all the good you've done around you!'

Shigeru Sōo's words echoed in my ears.

"At that moment, I understood the distress of the parents of a suicided child; the distress that is felt when a defunct loved one is refused peace... You can't imagine what I felt; the peace of mind it had brought me. I am forever grateful to him."