Rin (HAROLD Sakuishi) 20

Rin 20

*for RyColaa Scanlations

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p6: ============================================
R—Rin-chan, did you see something?

p7: ============================================
Huh?!
Wh—Where are you going?!
Can we go that way?

Fushimi-kun.
Yeah.

p8: ============================================
That boulder really creeped me out.
I can’t believe it naturally wound up looking like a human face.
Mmmmmm.

I can’t say it didn’t look like a face, but that sort of thing is like a Rorschach test.

A Rorsch-what?
They’re inkblot pictures used during psychological analysis.
Look it up later.

p9: ============================================
More importantly… Unlike Matagi-san and Otaki-san,
/ this island feels gloomy. It’s weighing on my mind.

p10: ============================================
There are stone steps? Out here?
They look pretty old.
Maybe there’s something up top?

p11: ============================================
But there’s a fence here…
That means we’re not allowed in.

A place we’re not allowed to enter, on an island you can only go to once every seven years?

Sounds fun.
Let’s head up a bit and get a picture.

No! Don’t‼

p12: ============================================
Something strange will come and take you home.

Huh?!

Didn’t you see the altar at the heart of the Hime-Iwa?

p13: ============================================
Yeah… Now that you mention it, wasn’t there a doll up above the mocha?

That food, which the court lady bore on her head, was an offering…

A sacrifice to the gods.

But long ago, in a certain era…

p14: ============================================
The court lady herself was the offering…
The sacrifice to the gods!

?!

p15: ============================================
‼

p16: ============================================
T—Taki-kun….

Weren’t you listenin’?

p17: ============================================
I told y’all that if I ever done see yer ugly mugs again, I’d kill ya!

p18: ============================================
If you think you can kill us, then go ahead and try!

Huh?!

p19: ============================================
If you lay so much as a darn finger on either them two folks behind me,
I’ll erase both you brothers.

p20: ============================================
Sorry, but who da hell do ya think I am?

What ‘bout you? Who da hell do ya think I am?

p21: ============================================
It felt like the air around us
was being pressed by some force of Ishidou-san’s.

p22: ============================================
Rumble
/ Rumble

…..
Tch. My old man?

If I’m right, yer a girl at Naomichi’s school.
So just you wait.

Are you all right?
Yeah.

p23: ============================================
Ishidou-san just saved
me and Taki-kun both.

Rin-chan!

You’re late!
I was worried sick!
I’m so sorry!

The tide’s coming up, so let’s hurry back!
Higeta-kun already went back on his own.

p24: ============================================
What?! You ran into him again?!

But this time, it was only the elder brother.

Now that you mention it, how’d he even show up there?

Thank goodness I wasn’t there.

p25: ============================================
Fushimi-kun, you were scared, right?
W—Well….

Yeah, I was scared…

But I never would’ve thought Ishidou-san had that side of her.

Fushimi-kun!

p26: ============================================
It’s fine.
I’ll protect you.
Huh?

I’ll keep you safe, Fushimi-kun.

p27: ============================================
[sign]: Hirano Inn

p28: ============================================
Whaaat?! That’s what the doll above the mochi meant?!
So scary.
I—I’m getting goosebumps.
No way no how am I going back there.

So, the practice of human offering, over time, became a doll offering?

I was right. The Kou-no-mori Festival does have a blood-soaked history…
as an event celebrating a cursed god.

p29: ============================================
Damn you! Why’d you slip out by yourself?‼
I’ll tear your ligaments!
B—But I can’t swim‼

I wonder what was on the other side of that fence.

If that brother was in there,
then maybe there’s something there the family in charge doesn’t want anyone to know…

I definitely had an unpleasant feeling about it.

p30: ============================================
It seems like people haven’t been offered up for a really long time,
so I’m not even sure if the families in charge know the truth.

……..
There must have been some other reason the brother was there.

What reason would that be?

p31: ============================================
Akane-chan, durin’ the last festival, wasn’t there someone what done died on that island?

Oh‼

The court lady fell into the sea and died!

p32: ============================================
Whaat?‼
I was little, so I don’t know exactly what happened,
but she was someone pretty enough to be chosen as Miss Umihime…

Miss Umihime….

She was the youngest daughter of Oouchi-san, who runs the electronics store.

Ma’am, ya sure yer fine with givin’ us this here feast?
It’s fine, it’s fine.
I’ve got some blowfish, too, so eat up.

p33: ============================================
The weather that day was pretty stormy, too.
The ceremony on Umehime Island went long, and the sandbar done disappeared.

The waves were crestin’ high, and while they were preparin’ a ship,
somethin’ went wrong,
/ and she fell from the south cliffs.

She was left behind on Umihime Island? Alone?

The Inui’s eldest son was s’possedly there, too.
That one made it out safely.

‼

p34: ============================================
Huh?! Nii-chan, you met with Ishidou?!
Yeah. She was up there with them guys from this morning.

p35: ============================================
What?!
They ain’t learned nothin’! They just keeps comin’ back.

But o’ course you roughed ‘em up, right, Nii-chan?

……..
No…

That Ishidou chick’s got pluck.

Yeah… That bitch’s got a pretty face, but there ain’t nothin’ can be done ‘bout that attitude‼
[bg]: {
You’re disgusting.

You make me sick.
Just go kill yourself.
}

p36: ============================================
Whoa! Nii-chan, that light was red‼

…………

Tell ya the truth,
I don’t mind chicks like that.

p37: ============================================
It could have been the work of the cursed god who devours humans.

For the Kou-no-mori Festival, the three ancient families draw lots,
There he goes again.
and then the court lady is chosen from the women in the winning family’s region…

In other words, elements of the festival’s origins in thysía have been passed on to this day.

Shut the door! It’s cold.
I’ve had enough of your stories!

p38: ============================================
Higeta-san, I think you’re making a grave misunderstanding.

Huh?

The Kou-no-Mori Festival does not have its routes in human sacrifice.

???
That was something tacked on later.

I may not know the details of the Kou-no-Mori Festival’s genesis,
but based on the oral history conveyed for generations, there were periods when the festival wasn’t held.

p39: ============================================
Like I said, its proper form wasn’t conveyed.

What do you mean?

………

Come to think of it, Higeta-kun,
didn’t you say there were a number of ancient religious tools excavated on Umihime Island?

Yes. The oldest are from the Yayoi and even Joumon eras…
<TL/N: Yayoi era: 300 BC to 300 AD. Joumon era: 14,000 BC to 300 BC.>

All over the world, holy lands often tend to have been considered holy for eons.

p40: ============================================
What I sensed…

was something from an era long before Umihime Island was called by its present name…
Back then, that large boulder was called “The Snake’s Head.”

p41: ============================================
A snake’s?
Well, I can’t say I don’t see it.
There are fairy tales of serpents that lived there.

A mystical path that arises from the sea, only to vanish…
To the ancient people, it felt like a snake.

Their poisoned fangs can kill a man,
and they can shed their skin to renew themselves.

The snake represents life and death—the soul.

p42: ============================================
Do you understand, Taki-kun?

The old man in the sunglasses wanted to draw a manga about that theme in his last days.

p43: ============================================
‼

Torus…..

p44: ============================================
Taurus… You mean the magazine?

You know Sawamura Eichi, right?
Of course I do. How wouldn’t I know the name of the giant of manga?

Well, the final, mysterious word he wrote down in his diary was “Torus.”

Rin-chan said that that’s the title of the manga he was trying to write at the end of his life!

…….
Whaa?!

p45: ============================================
I—I need to know what kind of manga it would’ve been‼

Torus….
To be honest, I haven’t been thinking about it much lately…

I’ve just been so focused in drawing erotic manga….
Sh—Shoot. Come to think of it, I still haven’t come up with any new material….

Rin-chan, I gotta get goin’.
My home’s pretty far off.
Yeah. I need ta go, too.

p46: ============================================
Rin-chan, you’re going home already? Don’t you live nearby?!
I want to hear more!
Then tomorrow, I’ll pick up where I left off.

Thanks for the food, ma’am.
Come along again tomorrow now. I’ll give you youngin’s a proper feast after the god-sendin’ ceremony tomorrow.

The God-sendin’ ceremony’s the climax of the Kou-no-Mori Festival, y’know.

Ishidou-san, thanks for everything today.
No problem. See you tomorrow.

p47: ============================================
!

I always decorate the place with sasanquas durin’ the Kou-no-Mori Festival,
but this year I done put out some lilies on a whim.

I bet Nishigaitsu-sensei loves lilies!

She decorated the whole living room with ‘em.

I would hate that!

p48: ============================================
Oh, I remember.
So those are lilies.

Are—Are you all right?

There were also some at the publishing house when I first met you, Fushimi-kun.

I just don’t feel that good right now.
/ I’m sure I’ll feel better soon.

p49: ============================================
Huh? There were?
Yeah. I remember them.

Lilies….

p50: ============================================
So then, it’s about time we got some sleep.
Huh? You don’t want to hear my hundred (true) stories?
Dammit, I’ll seriously tear your ligaments.

I want to wake up early and go back to the waterfall.

p51: ============================================
If you want to know what has gotten you so excited,
go to Umihime island.

What did you mean, Yassan?
Personally, I just don’t understand…

If he shows up in my dreams,
I’ll file my complaints.

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p53: ============================================
You’re normally not allowed to come in here,
but this waterfall is my absolute favorite.

Of all the fourty-eight waterfalls,
this is the most elegant and beautiful.

p54: ============================================
Yuri-sama said that, although the great waterfall is a male deity,
this waterfall is a goddess.

Taki-kun?!

p55: ============================================
Did I dream that weird dream because he said he wanted to go to the waterfall?
Morning.

p56-57: ============================================
……
At long last, the final day of the Kou-no-mori Festival.

How are things going to go today?

During the morning, the Shinto priest will visit each of the three ancient families and say a ritual prayer.
/ In the afternoon, each of the families will go to their respective holy grounds and send home the gods.

In the end, everyone gathers on the municipal grounds. The finale is a mochi-scattering ceremony.

p58: ============================================
Good morning!

Oh! Ishidou-san.
Is that your uniform?!

The old lady said that the god-sending ceremony is the climax of the Kou-no-Mori Festival,
/ so I thought I should try to look nice.

p59: ============================================
How prudent for one so young.

And what’s with your sweatshirt?
Could you two please just get changed all ready?

I’m sorry, Rin-chan! The bus was late.

Oh! Akane-chan, you’re wearing your uniform, too!

Let’s go say hello to the old lady.
‘Kay.

p60: ============================================
What about the Komatsu’s girl?
Ain’t she livin’ in Oosaka now?

There’s the Murakami’s Yuu-chan.
She done quit school and ain’t doin’ nothin’ with her life.
She ain’t left her room in weeks.
And the Okuda’s daughters have all left the island.
How weak…

Good morning.
What’s wrong, ma’am?

The court lady’s been stuck in bed with a fever o’ 38 degrees!
Huh?!

p61: ============================================
We’re all rushin’ about tryin’ to find someone to take her place!
If we can’t find one, it’d be embarrassin’ as one of the ancient familes!

This old lady’d have to commit seppuku and go apologize to her ancestors‼
[inset]: Whaaat?!

No, not just the old lady. The whole Hirano family’d have to commit seppuku‼

The court lady this year has to be from this region, right?

[sfx]: Stare…

Where d’you two live?

p62: ============================================
Huh?

It’s cold…

p63: ============================================
Why the heck are we waitin’ outside?
It’s retarded.

What order’s the priest visitin’ every which where?
We’re first.
/ Then comes Wada, and finally Hirano.

Oh! They’re here!

Hm?

p64: ============================================
[box]: To be continued in the September issue