"Hungry ghosts are evil spirits that wander the mountains. They possess people who are starving."
Isaribi took out the half bar of chocolate she had treasured, unwrapped it, held it in her hand, then placed it on the ground in front of her.
The long-haired woman sniffed, bloody saliva dripping from her mouth. Her eyes followed the piece of chocolate, darting about uncertainly. Her stomach rumbled.
Finally, like a wild dog fighting for food, she lunged forward, grabbed the chocolate, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Once the chocolate entered her mouth, the long-haired woman, whose expression had been as savage as a beast's, settled down.
But as the long-haired woman crouched on the ground, the back of her head was left wide open. The scales on Isaribi's arm tightened, and she swiftly struck the back of the woman's neck with a knife-hand blow.
The long-haired woman's eyes rolled back, and she passed out with her face twisted.
"Does that take care of it?" Hirota Tulio asked, approaching cautiously.
"We'll leave the rest to Lady Miko. She can purify an evil spirit of a hungry ghost's level with just her little finger."
Isaribi nodded. She first glanced at the towering sacred peak, then turned to gaze into the distance. Her eyes seemed to pierce the sea of trees toward the beach, sorrow and melancholy flowing through their depths.
"When I was little, my mother used hungry ghosts to scare me. If you ate facing the mountains, your food would go into a hungry ghost's stomach, and you would never feel full no matter how much you ate. But this is my first time seeing one."
Hirota Tulio fell silent.
Judging by the song from earlier, Miss Isaribi's mother was probably human. Even if the villagers on Mount Penglai Island lived