Obon Festival

Jiang Hao saw all the arguments online, but the doubts did not bother him.

Fake news was everywhere these days, and television reporters had lost much of their credibility. Even with a video, people who had not witnessed a miracle firsthand would still doubt it.

After all, science on Blue Star denied the existence of gods. Most people with a scientific education did not believe gods were real. Even those who thought it better to believe than risk being wrong mostly believed, deep down, that gods did not exist.

One video would hardly be enough to shatter their worldview.

"But once miracles start appearing everywhere, the people of Blue Star will have no choice but to rethink everything."

"Next comes Heijō-kyō."

"The Obon Festival. The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!"

Eastern Heijō-kyō.

A magnificent temple faded into the night. Beneath the firelight, men and women in traditional Eastern Isles clothing sang and danced, celebrating the return of their ancestors' spirits from Yomotsu Hirasaka to the Living World.

White lanterns hung high outside the closely packed houses.

Legend held that every year at this time, Yomi and the human world overlapped. The dead would travel along Yomotsu Hirasaka to reach the Living World.

With white lanterns hung outside, their ancestors could follow the light home.

Outside a low wooden house, its two white lanterns had gone out at some point. An old man calmly passed beneath them and stopped at the door.

Dressed in a white robe, he looked at first glance like a wealthy merchant from the Edo Period. His bald head also made him resemble an elderly monk. He raised a bony hand and knocked on the door in a steady rhythm.

"Knock, knock."

Hearing the sound, Ritsuko Tanimura came out of the house. She froze when she saw the old man and asked quietly, "Who are you?"

The old man's lips curved slightly. His age-spotted hand brushed across Ritsuko Tanimura's wrist. "I'm your grandfather."

After his touch, Ritsuko Tanimura's head grew foggy. Dazed, she echoed him. "Grandfather..."

She had not recognized the old man at first, but now he looked more familiar the longer she stared. It was as though she had met someone she had not seen in years and only gradually remembered who he was.

Ritsuko Tanimura led the old man inside, and he made himself at home.

He sat boldly at the dining table, eating sushi and sipping tea. Now and then, he commented on the food's merits and flaws. Ritsuko Tanimura waited on him hand and foot as if he truly were her grandfather.

When Kyosuke Tanimura returned home, he found his sister serving an old man he did not know. Startled, he asked, "Ritsuko, who's this guest?"

"He's Grandpa." Ritsuko Tanimura wondered hazily, How can my brother not recognize Grandpa?

"Grandpa? Didn't our grandfather die years ago?"

Kyosuke Tanimura's words jolted Ritsuko Tanimura awake.

That's right. Grandpa died years ago. How could this be him?

Ritsuko Tanimura turned to look at the old man eating and drinking at the table. The longer she looked, the more unfamiliar he seemed. The sense of recognition she had felt earlier was completely gone.

Her heart trembled as she remembered how familiar he had seemed and how she had believed he was her grandfather. It reminded her of a monster from legend—the Slippery-Headed Demon.

According to legend, the Slippery-Headed Demon was a monster that had transformed from an octopus. He often slipped into human homes to eat and drink, and the people living there would find themselves believing he was the head of the household. Far from driving him out, they would welcome him warmly.

The one thing that reassured Ritsuko Tanimura was that the Slippery-Headed Demon was said to be gentle. Apart from sneaking into homes to eat and drink, he did not harm anyone.

"Who are you?" Kyosuke Tanimura realized something was wrong and demanded an answer with a fierce glare.

"I'm your grandfather."

The old man swept his sleeve through the air.

Kyosuke and Ritsuko Tanimura both grew dizzy, forgetting their suspicion and anger entirely.

"Grandpa!" they cried in unison.

Then they began waiting attentively on the Slippery-Headed Demon.

While the Tanimura siblings were under the Slippery-Headed Demon's spell, legendary monsters began appearing throughout eastern Heijō-kyō.

A group of children hopped down a street together.

Someone glanced at them out of curiosity, then felt his scalp prickle with terror.

Those were no children. Their hair hung down to their noses, parted just enough to reveal a single eye. Unlike a human's two eyes, set on either side above the nose, each of theirs sat in the middle of the forehead, some horizontal and some vertical.

"Mountain Children..." A passerby recognized them and immediately turned away, covering his eyes.

Legend said Mountain Children lived deep in the mountains. When the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons came, they descended in groups, passed through human cities and reached deep rivers, where they became River Children.

Mountain Children bore humans no ill will. They played pranks, but never deliberately hurt anyone.

Yet anyone who saw one and failed to turn away and cover their eyes at once would mysteriously fall ill. That made Mountain Children some of the least welcome monsters.

Outside a high-rise building, a tall woman in a traditional kimono entered with her hair arranged in a Shimada Hairstyle and her face painted snow-white.

She drew everyone's attention the moment she stepped inside. Men and women alike stopped to stare as their eyes fell on her.

It was not that she was exceptionally beautiful. She was exceptionally tall.

In the Eastern Isles, where the average person stood only about 1.55 meters tall, 1.75 meters was already considered tall.

This woman, however, stood at least 2.55 meters.

Stranger still, her legs accounted for at least two meters of that height.

Everyone liked a woman with long legs, but legs longer than most people were tall were another matter entirely.

The tall woman stopped at the elevator. When the doors opened, she bent down and peered inside. Her chalk-white brows knitted, sending white powder fluttering down.

She paid it no mind. "This elevator is so short. How am I supposed to ride it?"

"You could take the stairs," someone in the watching crowd replied.

"You all get to take the elevator. Why should I have to use the stairs? Are you discriminating against me because of my height?" the tall woman snapped.

Before anyone could answer, she reached out and pressed her hand against the elevator.

Flames erupted in an instant.

In the firelight, the tall woman laughed wildly.

"Anyone who discriminates against my height can die!"