This is the 29th Chapter of The Summer Hikaru Died manga series, written and illustrated by Mokumokuren.
Synopsis[]
While everyone else is off enjoying their vacations, Maki’s being terrorized by...a pair of disembodied legs?! Yoshiki, “Hikaru,” and Kurebayashi rush to Ashidori to aid their friend’s supernatural plight, but there’s more to this problem than meets the eye...[1]
Plot[]
Maki video calls Yoshiki and "Hikaru" on their phones. Maki asks if they believe in ghosts, and Yoshiki brings up the photo that Maki had posted. Maki explains that every night, those "legs" show up in his house, in larger number as time went on. He also says that he has his broken arm and the strange rash on his leg for unknown reasons. "Hikaru" asks if he keeps any animals currently or in the past. Maki says that he hasn't, but his parent tells him to get off the phone since it's late at night. After they hang up, "Hikaru" clarifies to Yoshiki that it felt like "it" had been hanging around Maki, but says they should just go to his house in Ashidori since it's probably related to the hole that's opened in the area.
The next day, Yoshiki goes to leave the house but is stopped by his mother, who urges him to at least announce himself before leaving the house. Yoshiki simply replies that he's going to Maki's house and then leaves.
Kurebayashi drives Yoshiki and "Hikaru" to Maki's house. While driving, "Hikaru" remarks taht now that the holes are opening, the old impurities of the people who were sacrificed to Nounuki-sama must be coming out. He notices Yoshiki zoning out and asks if he's scared. With his hand trembling in his lap, Yoshiki says he's not sure he's ready for this. They hear the sound of taiko drums as they arrive at Maki's house. He opens the door and cheerfully greets "Hikaru", but pauses before he greets Yoshiki. He laughs it off, admitting that Yoshiki's name completely slipped his mind for a second. They then introduce Kurebayashi as a strong exorcist. When they hear the taiko drums again, Maki explains that it's coming from the Houko Festival happening in their town today, then brings everyone inside.
They don't find anything strange in Maki's room, but when they look outside the window, Maki sees a run-down shrine in their backyard. He panics, realizing that his older brother will be mad at him for not taking proper care of it. They go down to the shrine and Maki explains that it's a shrine to a serow – his great-grandfather was a hunter. At one point, he began to be followed by someone whenever he went into the mountains, but whenever he looked for them he only ever found the footprints of a barefoot human. One day, he checked his deer trap and found a serow caught in it. Serow hunting had just been outlawed at the time, so he set it free. After that, the presence that was following him disappeared, and instead he found serow hoof prints following him instead. He enshrined the serow and made it into a guardian deity.
Maki goes to get supplies to fix up the shrine. While he's gone, "hikaru" remarks that the "animal impurity" he sensed following Maki around must have just been the serow. It's the impurity of a serow, but enshrining it has caused it to "go up in rank" to a guardian deity. At the forest path,[2] the guardian deity made it so that Maki kept his eyes straight ahead so he couldn't see the "ku" creature. But because Maki hadn't been cleaning the shrine, the guardian disappeared and he started to be targeted by the "legs".
"Hikaru" picks up the offering dish, revealing two flesh-like hoof prints. Kurebayashi says the impurity from the "hole" must be eating into it. "Hikaru" puts his hand over the prints and takes the impurity inside of him. When Kurebayashi asks what he did, he explains that doing that is something like instinct to him. He wants to take in souls, and since impurities were originally souls, it feels goof to take them in. He clarifies that he understands human instincts on knowledge basis – he knows that generally "this sort of things is erotic" or "food tastes good so I like it" but it doesn't actually bother him going without food.
Kurebayshi compares taking in souls or impurities to eating a meal, but "Hikaru" says it isn't like that. Rather, he is amazed at the beauty of a soul. "Hikaru" looks happy when Yoshiki asks him to explain more what souls are like to him. He says he that they're like fires; everyone has a spark, but how big it burns varies from person to person, and being closer to a larger fire influences the surrounding fires. Impurities are drawn to souls the way humans are drawn to fires when it's cold. A body is a boat that a soul is riding on, and the difference between death and life is whether a soul is on the boat or not.
Yoshiki asks if "Hikaru" feels that even if the body is different, it's the same person as long as the soul is the same. "Hikaru" replies yes at first. If someone had the same soul as Yoshiki, they'd do the same thing, whether it's a human or an elephant. He thinks about it longer and laughs, realizing he's slightly confused. He seems unhappy at the thought that they wouldn't be able to eat ice cream together if Yoshiki were an elephant.
Maki then returns with the cleaning supplies. He trips because of his leg, but "Hikaru" puts a hand over the rash and consumes the impurity. He gives the excuse that Kurebayashi used her psychic energy to fix it.
After cleaning the shrine, Maki is relieved that his older brother won't get mad at him. His brother is very devout to the shrine because he's really into the occult.
At Yoshiki's request, Maki calls his older brother and asks about a "hole" in Ashidori. The brother replies that the local Houko Festival was once said to be for "hole-patching".
Character Appearances[]
Gallery[]
References
- ↑ Rakuten Kobo: The Summer Hikaru Died, Chapter 29
- ↑ Chapter 3 (Vol. 1)
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