"Hikaru"/History

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History

“Something” is an Anomalous Being that exists outside the cycle of Samsara (the karmic cycle, the cycle of death and rebirth). After crossing from The Other Side into This World centuries ago, humans have assigned it the name Nounuki-sama.

The Area's Religious History

Arrival of new religion caused Nounuki-sama's decline.

A long time in the past, there was frequent mercury mining in the area of Kubitachi. This resource made people continue to settle in the area despite the illness, crop failures, and other misfortunes that frequently befell the land. As the amount of mercury dwindled, it began to be used to create medicine called "Uronuki" that would abort a pregnancy. Colloquially, using the medicine to terminate a pregnancy was referred to as "returning it to Unuki-san of the mountain". Over time, "Unuki-san" became worshiped as the deity of Red Sand Mountain, and the calamities died down.

At some point, Unuki-san's name was changed to "Nounuki-sama" (meaning "the Great Brain-snatcher") due to the phenomenon of people losing their heads on the mountain– folklore that in modern day are known as "The Tale of the Peasant and His Neck" and "The Farmer's Head". Nounuki-sama is said to have granted a wish in exchange for an offering of a human head. Toward the end of the Early modern period, around 1700, the XX Domain Territory was split into five villages – Darumasute and Udeiri (present-day Kibogayama), Kubitachi, Udekari, and Ashidori – in order to separate and bury the sacrifices' body parts as far apart as possible. These body parts remain in mass graves to the present day, where torso bones are found in Kibogayama around Darumazuka Tunnel, arm bones in Udekari, and leg bones in Ashidori. However, Nounuki-sama became largely forgotten as new belief systems established stronger foothold in the surrounding areas. Unlike its neighboring villages which adopted other religions, Kubitachi continued worship of Nounuki-sama, mostly in secret.

The Arrival of “Something”

Indou Hichi's head is offered to “Something”.

It is theorized by Tanaka that “Something” emerged on the mountain in 1749 – the year that the exchange of a wish for a head stopped following an episode of mass deaths that was thought to have caused Nounuki-sama to become a malevolent deity (祟 (たた) り神 (がみ) , tatarigami^?, i.e. a deity that brings calamity to individuals or communities). More specifically, a plague occurred in the area, causing a woman named Indou Hichi to fall ill and die. Her husband, the leader of the Indou family, brought her head into the mountain and encountered “Something”. Believing it to be Nounuki-sama, he offered his wife's head to it and asked for her to be brought back to life. “Something” revived her, but in exchange, it caused a massive amount of bizarre deaths that all involved the head or neck. (Hanging, slitting throats of others and then oneself, heads being trampled by horses, or even heads disappearing straight off a person's body.) This eliminated one third of the village's population before the day ended. Only the Indou family experienced zero deaths, and it was said that Nounuki-sama had promised not to harm the Indous. However, even though Hichi returned to life, she was still a severed head. She suffered and painfully died the same night. Afterward, the harvests improved, and the plagues became fewer – this is because “Something” attracts impurities like a lightning rod, thus keeping the impurities in the mountain and out of the villages.

“Something” finds Hikaru.

About every five years following this incident, men of the Indou family would go into a restricted area on Red Sand Mountain to complete an apology ritual. This ritual was thought to seal Nounuki-sama and prevent it from coming down into the village. However, the ritual was only a human-constructed belief, and it did not actually have an effect on “Something” at all.

Until modern day, “Something” has been wandering through the Kubitachi Mountains, much like a machine on autopilot – unthinking and unfeeling. It eventually discovered the body of Indou Hikaru as he was on the brink of death. Mistaking “Something” for Unuki-sama, Hikaru requested that it take his place so that Yoshiki wouldn't be alone. “Something” then came to inhabit Indou Hikaru's body, inheriting his memories and to a degree his feelings as well. It took “Something” a few days to repair the body's injuries before it made its way back into Kubitachi to resume Hikaru's daily life.