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It is indeed important, because in the hair accessories resides the light of Gaia.
"I'm sorry for moving without your consent."
"It's okay." Feeling the warm light in her palms that only she could perceive, Lingye's heart calmed down.
It turned out that she was not as strong as she thought. She had not changed from the past and even looked like a ridiculous frightened bird.
Her strength and self-confidence were all given by external things. Without the surname Oshima, she would not even be able to make a living. Without the light of Gaia, she would be a coward who dared not turn off the lights even when sleeping.
"Does it hurt?" Her mother-in-law combed her hair again and again.
"It doesn't hurt. Grandma is so amazing. Combing my hair doesn't hurt at all."
"Don't look at me like this, I have combed the hair of many people."
She combed the hair of her daughter, Erye, and her granddaughters, Sanye and Shiye, when they were young. For her, combing the hair of little girls has become something familiar and almost a ritual, in addition to weaving knotted ropes for the shrine. She combs from top to bottom, and the children under the comb grow up unknowingly.
The little girl in front of her seemed to overlap with the figures in her memory. Granny Miyamizu shook her head, dispelling the inexplicable sentimentality.
After straightening her hair, the mother-in-law picked up the knotted rope she had just woven and used it as a headband to tie up Reiya's hair.
"It looks really good." The mother-in-law nodded in satisfaction, and I didn't know whether she was satisfied with her hair-combing skills, or appreciated the knotted rope she had just woven. Or maybe both.
"This is a knot to ward off evil spirits. Even if we forget the name of the deity enshrined in the shrine, the blessing will not disappear."
"Don't worry about the devil. That's not something a kid should think about. I'm the same as well as a wood priest. We old guys are still alive. It's not time for you young people to step in. Where to go tomorrow and what new clothes to buy are what you kids should think about."
Granny Miyamizu stood up as she spoke. Her feet were a little numb from kneeling for so long, and Ling hurried over to support her so she didn't fall.
"Well, the sun will set in two hours. The two TAC members should still be in the hall. The mountain road is difficult to walk on, so I won't keep any food for you."
Just as Grandma Miyamizu said, at this time, Beidou and Minami Yuko were still in the main hall of the shrine. They looked a bit awkward in the TAC uniforms among the pilgrims coming and going. However, no one raised this point. After the pilgrims respectfully offered incense to the "Ultraman God", some people would even bow to them.
If Ultraman is considered a god, is the TAC team the servants of God?
Beidou threw away this ridiculous idea. The incense was lingering in the hall, which did give him a sacred feeling, but he couldn't help laughing. He leaned on the guardrail and held his chin to look at the statue. This action was somewhat disrespectful to the god. But there was no other way. The "god" in front of him was his brothers who were very familiar to him, and even himself. How could he feel awe?
Brotherly friendship is pretty good.
If there weren't so many pilgrims around, he would even want to jump onto the altar to take a photo and bring it back to show his brothers when he returns to the Kingdom of Light.
Ultraman God, haha, no matter how many times I hear this name, it still sounds funny.
At this time, Beidou saw Lingya coming back from the backyard.
"Why, is it over already?"
Ling also shook her head.
"My mother-in-law asked me to go home."
"What about the ritual to exorcise evil spirits?"
She didn't know the rituals for exorcising evil spirits. Grandma Miyamizu had never intended to teach her this from the beginning.
If a super beast appeared in front of her, she could immediately transform into Gaia to fight. But she really had no way to deal with the so-called "demon god" without a physical body.
After all, whether the shrine maiden's rituals are useful is another matter. She is not a real shrine maiden.
At this time, Reiya and Beidou saw Mayor Miyamizu Toshiki walking through the hall, muttering something.
"The mayor."
"Ah, it's everyone from the TAC team, and the little girl. Sorry, I'm busy and don't have time to entertain you."
"Mayor Miyamizu, what are you doing?"
Miyamizu Toshiki held a Kagura bell in one hand and a wide shrine maiden robe in the other.
"This is what my mother wanted. Really, she is already old and no longer a shrine maiden, but she still wants to dance the shrine maiden dance. She asked me to find these from the warehouse, and she is not afraid of hurting her waist."
Reiya and Beidou looked at each other.
Mother-in-law, she wants to remove the spirit herself!
Chapter 78: Witch Dance
Okayama, Itomori Town
As night falls, there is no entertainment in this remote town, let alone nightlife. When night falls, the town itself will soon fall asleep.
But Miyamizu Shrine was brightly lit.
"I say, Lord Miyamizu, do you really want to perform a sacrificial dance? If I remember correctly, you are a whole generation older than me. You are already seventy years old this year, right?" A wood priest who was sixty years old and not young either said, "Besides, you are no longer a shrine maiden. Is there any point in performing this dance?"
A shrine maiden must be a pure young girl. Granny Miyamizu even married her granddaughter and left the shrine more than 50 years ago. Seriously speaking, if she were to perform a sacrifice as a shrine maiden, it might be a blasphemy.
However, in fact, Miyamizu Shrine has long forgotten who the deity it worships is. They only know that it is Wamonjin, and even the name of the deity has been lost, so it doesn't matter.
Broken jar?
Granny Miyamizu put on the shrine maiden costume that had been hidden at the bottom of her suitcase for more than fifty years.
Those were the clothes she had worn when she was seventeen or eighteen years old. The memories of her youth were usually buried deep in her memory, like a past life. But when she saw the clothes, they suddenly became clear again, as if they were right in front of her.
The clothes made her look funny because they dwarfed her. They didn't fit her at all, but she didn't care. She just used scissors to cut off the extra-long trouser legs and rolled up her sleeves.
Seeing that Lord Miyamizu was so stubborn, the Ichimu Priest had no choice but to look at Miyamizu Toshiki beside him.
"Mayor, don't you want to give me some advice?"
"If my advice had worked, this shrine wouldn't be what it is now." Mayor Miyamizu snorted. He reached into his pocket to take out a cigarette as usual, but then he remembered that this was a shrine and stopped.
Outside, he was the highest official in the town, but in the shrine, he was just a son-in-law who married into the family. And when he gave up his duties as a priest and chose to go into politics, he had been driven out of the family.
He never believed in these weird things, even when he was a priest.
He married into the Miyamizu family because he loved Futaba, so he was even willing to wear a ridiculous priest's uniform for Futaba. But in fact, he never believed in any Wamon God. Winding a few silk threads and weaving a few knots can be blessed by gods? What a joke, if gods really exist, why didn't they protect Futaba?
He has hated this place since the day Erye died.
God does not exist. Even if he exists, he is an alien creature like Ultraman, who possesses technology far superior to that of humans, rather than a so-called "spirit" or a so-called belief.
"The old woman is just missing the old days of playing house. As long as she likes it, let her do it."
Junshu said this, but he still asked his secretary to notify an ambulance in case this 'former mother-in-law' who had kicked him out of the house really got hurt.
He really felt that this was just playing house. Miyamizu Toshiki never believed in the Wabun God, and naturally he would not believe in the so-called "Black Bag Monk", which was just a fairy tale that had been circulating in the village for many years to scare children. He had heard it when he was a child, so he went to bed at nine o'clock every day. Now that he has grown up, he still wants to scare himself?
Ah--
A brazier was lit in front of the steps of the shrine to ward off evil spirits.
Granny Miyamizu took a deep breath. It was a dance she hadn't performed for more than 50 years, but it had already been engraved in her bones and blood, and she would never forget it because of time. She stretched out her hand and pointed forward, and the Kagura bell in her hand made a crisp sound.
The Kagura bell is a three-layered instrument, with 3, 5, and 7 bells from top to bottom respectively, hung together like ears of rice, symbolizing a good harvest and the elimination of disasters.
Click——
With just one sound, everything was silent. A gust of wind blew past, and it seemed as if the crackling sound of the bonfire had stopped.
At this point, Ichiki realized that it was useless for him to say anything. He nodded to the mages around him, and then a melodious Kagura flute sounded, accompanied by the beating of Japanese drums.
The festival has begun.
Ichiki Shusai also struck the ox-horn instrument unique to his shrine and chanted scriptures.
A 70-year-old dancing is not good-looking no matter what. Ordinary people cannot appreciate it, and probably neither can gods. But the movements of Granny Miyamizu are never difficult to watch. Her body has long been stiff due to age, but her movements, every move, has a certain rhythm.
Naturally.
When a section of music was over, the mother-in-law put down the Kagura bell and picked up a fan. She covered her face with the fan and walked slowly forward to the sound of music.
In the corner, Miyamizu Toshiki was lost in thought. The figure walking slowly amidst the music gave him a certain illusion. It seemed to be his wife Futaba. At some point, he mistakenly thought he had returned to the time before his life was shattered.
A gust of wind blew.
Summer nights are windy to begin with, and no one paid attention to them at first. But the wind gradually grew stronger, strong enough that people had to pay attention. The wind blew up the flames in the brazier. The fire suddenly rose because of the wind, and then went out again. When a brazier went out, the surroundings became a little darker.
The sound of the Kagura flute paused for a moment, but continued to play.
Mayor Junshu thought he was having an illusion, but he soon realized that there was really a person in the pond behind the shrine. He couldn't see clearly, but he was wearing a bamboo hat and a robe. He looked like an ordinary wandering monk.
But this doesn't make sense. The back mountain is a cliff, and there is no way to get up. Standing here, he is sure that no such person has entered the shrine today. How did he get here?
No, before that, the place where he stepped should be the pond. Was he standing on the water?!
Sensing that something beyond his comprehension was happening, Junshu wanted to call his secretary, or someone else who was accompanying him, or anyone else, but he found that he couldn't speak, or even move a finger.
This feeling was like being unable to move and wake up from a nightmare. He knew it was a nightmare, but couldn't escape. But he was absolutely sure that he was not dreaming.
The monk was approaching. His feet didn't move, he didn't make any walking movements, but he was approaching. It was as if he confused people's concept of distance.
Junshu already knew what he was seeing.
The Black Bag Monk is not a fairy tale or a story to scare children. He really came out of the legend.
Junshu was completely motionless, he couldn't move at all, and the reason he was still conscious was probably because the sound of the Kagura flute hadn't stopped, and Granny Miyamizu's movements hadn't stopped. She half-squatted, and then knelt.
Holding the folded fan in both hands, he bowed down.
Take the fan, then stand up to the sound of music, slide and open the fan. The rhythm of the Japanese drums replaces the Kagura flute, one by one, each beat seems to hit the heart. The fan is slowly swung down and raised.
"Kagura dance, it really makes me miss it."
Before he knew it, the black cloth bag monk was standing in front of the stage, watching the dance in front of him. The Kagura dance to exorcise evil spirits was just like an ordinary stage performance to him.
Granny Miyamizu pointed at him from a distance with her fan again.
The middle-aged man in front of him was undoubtedly the demon god. The monk who once vowed to save all living beings wanted to use his own flesh and blood as a boat to ferry people through the sea of suffering, but he did not expect to be abused and tortured by others, and degenerated into an evil spirit.
The ambitions of the past have become the most terrible curse.
Granny Miyamizu didn't think she could subdue the devil, but she didn't panic as she stood on the altar.
Everyone is afraid of death, it is human instinct, but for Miyamizu Ichiha, who is already in her seventies, she has been able to accept it calmly. Every day before going to bed, she will empty and wash her teacup, because she is not sure if she will need it tomorrow, and she is not sure if she will open her eyes again after closing them.
At her age, it wouldn't be strange if her heart suddenly stopped beating any night. Do what you can do yourself so as not to cause trouble to others.
She had lived long enough and experienced everything that could happen. There was nothing to regret. Mitsuha was married and had her own family. Even little Yotsuha was wearing a high school uniform and had grown up and no longer needed her care.
Then, it’s time for her to go meet Erye.
It's not a terrible thing, but a relief. A lifetime is really tiring.
Granny Miyamizu was a little dazed, and in that brief moment, she seemed to be looking back on her entire life.
"It's good to ask for help from the gods, but have you even forgotten your own gods? Who else do you want to ask for help?"