Would High School Girls Dream of Zashiki-warashi?

In front of the popular breakfast shop near the school gate, a long queue of students and office workers had formed. People from Dongguo... or rather, most people have this problem: the longer the queue at a place, the more they want to join it.

Fortunately, the group disappeared quickly. After roughly estimating the number of people, Rinka pulled Baihe Hua over and returned to the previous topic:

"Speaking of which, why have you suddenly become interested in Weird Tale? Didn't you say you wanted to distance yourself from those topics?"

"I... I've just figured it out! Surrealism is surrealism, Chuunibyou; they can't be confused!" Baihe Hua Tough Talk retorted, then weakly added:

"After all, Weird Tale really exist, so believing that Weird Tale can't be considered chuunibyou (Chuunibyou), right?"

"Yes, yes, you should have thought of that a long time ago!" Rinka nodded in satisfaction, smiling, seeing her best friend rediscover the interest a normal person should have.

"Tell me, what do you want to know? Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm Weird Tale all sorts of strange tales!"

"The one you guys were talking about yesterday." Baihe Hua originally wanted to ask about the dream she had last night, but she felt that would be too direct and might make her best friend worry, so she went along with her previous excuse and asked instead.

"The New Year's Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, right?" Rinka thought about the Weird Tale she had talked about yesterday, and after realizing there were too many, she chose the most shocking one to ask.

"Yes, that's it!" Baihe Hua nodded vigorously, and Rinka also started talking:

"Do you know about the Shi-zui and the Bean-scattering Festival?"

"Don't treat me like a fool! I'm a native of the East, how could I not know!" Baihe Hua glared at Rinka, but Rinka just grinned and said:

"The Shi-zui (a type of Weird Tale) grants ordinary people the power to exorcise demons, while the Bean-scattering Festival is a ritual that uses bean throwing to drive away monsters and ghosts. So, generally speaking, during this period after the New Year, ghost stories and other Demons and Monsters will temporarily hide. However, since the New Year this year, there have been Weird Tale sightings in Chiba. It is said that some people have seen a large group of Weird Tale patrolling the streets, seemingly looking for someone."

"Looking for someone?!" Baihe Hua had only intended to start a conversation, but she was "unwittingly" drawn in by the topic and subconsciously asked.

"I don't know, but quite a few people in the club speculate that they might be looking for Kamen Rider." Rinka said in a low voice, perhaps to create an atmosphere.

"Related to Kamen Rider?" Baihe Hua's eyes widened. Although this national tokusatsu drama was ordered to stop airing last year, the Kamen Rider who appeared in real life still led the conversation.

"That's right! Everyone suspects that the Kamen Rider headquarters might be in Chiba, which is why the Weird Tale are being searched house to house in Chiba! There's absolutely no reason for Night Parade of a Hundred Demons (Night Parade of a Hundred Demons) to appear. But even though it's called Yuri-chan, I haven't seen anything these past few days. Sayuri, have you seen Weird Tale?" Rinka seemed quite concerned about not having seen any real Weird Tale. Upon hearing this, Baihe Hua shook her head and said:

"I've definitely never seen it in real life, but I've dreamt about it. Speaking of which, do Weird Tale sometimes creep into our dreams?"

"I finally asked!" The seemingly casual words were finally uttered after much struggle. Baihe Hua inwardly praised her own cleverness while eagerly awaiting Rinka's reply.

"In dreams, yes, there are." Rinka rested her finger on her chin, but just as Baihe Hua was expecting an answer, Rinka turned around again, took out a few Natsume Soseki cards, and said:

"Give me two limited-edition cream puffs, one five-color daifuku, and two custard buns..."

"Rinka-chan!" Baihe Hua grinned, but a rumbling stomach immediately made her reach for her wallet, because she knew very well that even though Rinka a lot, it was all for her alone!

"I want a cream puff and a custard bun."

A few minutes later, Baihe Hua and Rinka arrived in the classroom and sat in the seats by the window, nibbling on cream puffs.

Rinka had been keeping everyone in suspense, seemed quite satisfied with the limited-edition cream puffs, finishing them off in just a few bites. However, she then noticed Baihe Hua's strange expression and immediately asked:

"Yuri-chan, what's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing!" Baihe Hua shook her head absentmindedly, her mind a jumble of thoughts as she recalled the few unfamiliar coins that had appeared in her wallet when she took out her money earlier.

She forced back her complicated thoughts and said:

"We were just talking about Weird Tale from dreams."

"Ah, right!" Rinka, ever the carefree type, licked the cream from the corner of her mouth and exclaimed in realization:

"Speaking of which, there are quite a few Weird Tale related to dreams. The more traditional ones include the 'Dream Eater' which feeds on dreams, the Western ones include the 'Dream Demon' who makes suggestive noises in dreams, the 'Dream Monk' who curses you in dreams, and the 'Black Monk' who secretly absorbs your life force while you sleep. But if we're talking about things that affect dreams, it should be the 'Makuragaeshi'."

Baihe Hua's mind was originally on those few coins, but when she heard the words "absorbing essence," she couldn't help but turn her attention back to the topic.

"The Makuragaeshi is a rather traditional Weird Tale. It's said to be a kind of little ghost that takes away a person's pillow after they fall asleep, flips it over, or places it at their feet, or even turns the person upside down. By doing this, it makes the person have nightmares and then absorbs the negative emotions such as pain, distress, and sorrow that the dreamer experiences during those nightmares. It's a kind of monster that's not very harmful but is quite annoying. In some places, it's considered a small prank by Zashiki-warashi, but there are also legends of it causing children to become so engrossed in their dreams that they never wake up."

Rinka introduced the knowledge of the yokai called "Makuragaeshi" as if reciting a familiar list, while also adding:

"This Weird Tale is basically just people with bad sleeping habits attributing their sleeping posture to ghosts and gods. Of course, there have been people telling Makuragaeshi stories at Midsummer Night Festival over the years, so maybe Makuragaeshi really does exist now."

"Will Makuragaeshi leave any evidence? Like bringing out things from dreams or something?" Baihe Hua thought of the few coins in her wallet, and tentatively smelled them, but Rinka shook her head and said:

"There's no such thing as a free lunch! Hmm, maybe not... I've decided! I can submit a Weird Tale like this to the Midsummer Night Festival this year? I wonder if it will repay me? Let me have a sweet dream, and then slurp up all sorts of delicious food..."

"..." Seeing her friend lost in her fantasies, Baihe Hua opened her wallet, looked at the few coins inside that each seemed to be worth tens of millions of yen, and sighed helplessly:

"What about money? Are there any monsters related to money? The kind that give money?"

"Hey, Yuri-chan, you're actually worried about money?" Rinka looked at her best friend with some surprise, and after thinking for a moment, said:

"There are quite a few thieves, but those who give money... seem to be only the Iron Rat, who's like a treasure to those who have a rat at home; the Gold Spirit, who lets you beat up passersby and gives you money based on the strength of the person you beat up; and the Zashiki-warashi, who can bring good luck."

"Zashiki-warashi? I think there was some talk about Makuragaeshi -Zashiki-warashi playing pranks before... so I have a Zashiki-warashi at home?"

"..."

"Hey, Rinka, did you hear me?"

"What did you hear?"

It sounds like someone is insulting me!

Continuing from the previous article.

Devouring Weird Tale is like merging folders. Files that weren't originally in your folder are essentially contaminated.

Because you own the Trait for this Weird Tale, some files in your folder and the Progenitor Supernatural Tale folder have the same name. Therefore, when merging, you can choose "not to copy" to reduce the difficulty of processing.

However, you could never possess all the "files" from the Progenitor Supernatural Tale.

Take the Kuchisake-onna as an example. Her methods of killing include cutting off her mouth, slashing her face, and piercing her. The [Tag] and [powers] associated with the Trait will differ depending on the version she plays. However, the Progenitor Supernatural Tale possesses all versions of the [Tag] and [powers].

When devouring the Progenitor Supernatural Tale, the actor can easily digest the [Tag] and [powers] they already possess, but the rest must be swallowed whole, which is unavoidable.

In conclusion, the higher the popularity, the more complex the setting, and the more versions of Weird Tale, the more difficult it is to absorb. Hundred Tales is the epitome of this, with any well-known Eastern Weird Tale having dozens of versions. However, there are still some with fewer versions, such as "Ken," which only has a few versions and is easier to absorb.

Now, let's return to the power of [Martial God]. It can directly absorb the power of other [Martial Gods], but the power of the Weird Tale is [Consciousness], so absorbing power is equivalent to directly entering a devouring state.

However, because there is no Trait for the other party, there is almost no compatibility, which is no different from directly consuming Omen. Only those versions that are rare and unknown can be barely digested, similar to real people consuming Weird Tale.