Editing Reinousha Minato: Volume 01 Chapter 01 (section)

=Part 1=
Several siren rang in the morning at Okura City.

Police cars and ambulance gathered around the centre of the town where hito-shirazu lives. Many onlookers were observing it fearfully from afar.

“Here. We can still make it in time”

The ambulance crew came running while carrying someone on a stretcher. From which an arm fell loosely hanging to the ground with hints of dripping blood.

Outside of the yellow-coloured off-limit tape, the policemen were shouting that nobody could enter the area.

The onlookers were standing at the side of the road where the asphalt was gouged out. From the hole, the ground was broken and water was gushing out from a ruptured water pipe at the particular spot.

It was overturning the cars, crushing the trucks, tearing the guardrail and causing the canal to collapse, it was destroying the city as if it was an explosion.

The very same scene was also appeared in the television cameras from the reporters.

“It’s the scene of accident that occurred in Okura City this morning. As you can see, the confusion can be seen clearly, as the authority couldn’t confirm the safety in the area. Neither the police nor the fireman is able to identify the cause of the 100 meters road failure, whether it was due to tornado, terrorism, they even mentioned some random speculation like land subsidence, the residences around the periphery…”

At the reporter and camera blind spot, a strange group was heading to the place of hito-shirazu of Shinto. There were 3 women in the centre, wearing a miko outfit. While a crowd of men walk surrounding them, as if protecting them, was wearing a pale blue-green-coloured clothes, only the chief priest has the right to wear a green coloured robe.

When the stiff looking mikos reached the place of hito-shirazu, the police officer who stood by the doorway confronted them.

“This is an off limit area. Please turn away”

Despite encountering the strange group, he did not forget his own duties. However, when the miko in the centre issued a document, the police officer immediately changed his attitude.

“We are dispatched from the central shrine to help, my name is Mizutani Risako. We have obtained permission”

“I-I’m sorry. Please proceed”

The woman named Mizutani Risako nodded lightly to the police officer and slipped through his side. She couldn’t fully conceal her impatience which was clearly visible to the police man.

“As I thought…”

Risako got on to the front of the giant tree where the border of the living lies, she muttered so in a hoarse voice.

Not only the road outside, the ground inside hito-shirazu quarter was also torn apart in a straight line through their warehouse up to the centre of the giant trees. However, it stopped right in front of the giant trees. Rather than the giant tree itself, the collapse of the ground might be caused by an unknown force.

There were quite a number of bloodstains on the ground surrounding the trees, and hence, some police officers had to do site inspection. There were white lines traces scattered on the ground. However, most of them only consisted of the upper body part of a human.

“Kuchinashi-sama, we’ve found the details about the victims”

One of the priest who had listened about the situation from police officers were reporting to Risako.

“There are victims beside the dispatched priests”

“Do you mean that outsiders had slipped in?”

“Yes. We found their student cards. They seem to be in an amateur occult study group from university”

“…. I see”

Risako who belongs to the Shinto sect was given the name of ‘Kuchinashi-sama[11]’, despite her youth, she brought a title which is considered as a high-level in the world. Thanks to a number of Specter-related incident that she must solve in the past, she had gotten used to seeing grotesque scene since she was young.

Some of the Specters were adorable as if it had come out of fairy tale, yet there were some others which were extremely cruel, like a mutilated corpse of human. There were cases where she had to face invisible being, or even cases where she was being possessed by spirit.

Brutality and mystery were her bread and butter. Yet, this incident still considered a large scale, even for her who is supposed to be used to such event.

However, she couldn’t seem to act calmly as per usual.

“So, have you managed to find all of their corpse?”

The last words of her sentences were slightly voiced out with a lower volume.

“No, Yamagami Saya’s body is not found”

“I see”

On the outside, Risako appeared to be calm as usual, but when she stood between the 2 giant sacred trees, her face immediately stiffened.

“What about this?”

She found some rotten pieces of things which fell on the ground, Risako expression was darkened.

“The wreckage of shimenawa.. As I thought, the seal has been released”

However, the shimenawa which she held felt strange. She couldn’t make it out by words, but there was something missing from it. When Risako was trying to remember it, the bushes beside her was bustling.

Risako eyes quickly turned to that direction, before widened up in surprise. The next moment, Risako ran to the centre of the bushes without giving a second glance.

“Saya!”

From the back of the hito-shirazu, there was a figure of a wounded girl who miraculously still able to stand on her own. When Risako closed in to the place where she stood, the girl’s body fell down in her arm due to exhaustion.

“Saya, be strong Saya”

Saya muttered something and opened her eyes faintly, it was not loud enough to be heard clearly. Saya immediately lose her consciousness soon after she entrusted her body to Risako.

Risako showed a relieved expression when she heard breathing sound and heartbeats from the body she was holding in her ams. However, when she saw Saya’s arm, which was hanging loosely over the shoulder, her expression changed completely.

“This is…”

Looking at Saya’s arm, Risako felt an uncomfortable feeling that was missing out from the shimenawa’s wreckage.

The shimenawa which was used for sealing, supposed to have Iruka-type of jindaimoji[8] written on its surface.

Iruka has twelve vowels, which pronounciation method is not known. Looking at its pattern, it has less characters than of modern linguistic. Even within the mystical Jindaimoji which said to have particular power, Iruka posseses a greater power, which has been used as a secret characters for curses and seals.

However, the character had disappeared from the wreckage of the shimenawa.

Instead, the creepy Iruka characters was written on Saya’s pale right arm.