スポンサーリンク
姦姦蛇螺 (Kankan Dara)
When I was in elementary and junior high school, I was just a clueless country kid. I hung out every day with two close friends, A and B, goofing off and living a pretty rough life.
Both A and I had been completely abandoned by our families, but B’s mom was different—she still cared about him, even if she only showed it through a strict attitude.
No matter what, she would always look out for him in her own way.
One day, when we were in our third year of junior high, B had a huge fight with his mom.
He didn’t tell us the details, but apparently, he hurt her pretty badly, emotionally.
While she sat there, broken and devastated, B’s dad came home.
He took one look at the scene and immediately understood what had happened.
Without saying a word to B, he walked straight to his wife.
Her clothes were torn, her hair a mess, and she sat staring blankly at the floor with the dead eyes of a fish.
Seeing her like that, B’s father spoke, not to B, but while holding her tightly.
B’s Father:
"So you've become the kind of person who can trample others like this. Don't you understand how much your mother cares about you?"
B wasn’t listening at all.
He shot back angrily:
B:
"Shut up. Want me to kill you, old man?"
Even then, his father didn’t react.
He just kept speaking, calm and steady.
B’s Father:
"You think there's nothing in this world that can scare you, don't you?"
B:
"Yeah. If there is, I'd like to see it."
After a brief silence, his father said:
B’s Father:
"You're my son. I know how much your mother worries about you.
But if the only thing you can do is crush her like this... then I have no choice.
I'm not speaking as your father now, but as another human being.
You should know—if I'm telling you this, it's because I'm ready to accept your death.
If you're fine with that, then listen."
B said he felt a terrifying intensity behind those words.
Still, he egged him on: "Fine, then talk!"
B’s Father:
"You know that off-limits area deep in the woods?
Go there.
Head as far in as you can.
You'll understand once you get there.
Try acting out like you are now—if you can."
The "woods" he was talking about were at the base of a small mountain near where we lived.
It was like a mini-forest, nothing too out of the ordinary.
You could enter the mountain freely, and the whole forest seemed normal—until you went deep enough to reach the restricted area.
It was like drawing a small circle inside a big square—only that inner circle was forbidden.
A fence nearly two meters tall surrounded it, reinforced with thick ropes and barbed wire.
White papers, like some strange type of shide (Shinto paper streamers), were draped all over, and countless bells, big and small, were tied to it.
The setup was bizarrely specific and clearly not normal.
Sometimes, on certain days, you could see shrine maidens (miko) gathered around the entrance.
On those days, the entire area would be declared off-limits, but what exactly they were doing there remained a mystery.
There were plenty of rumors—
The most common one was that it was a brainwashing facility run by a cult.
But honestly, just getting to that place was such a hassle that barely anyone ever talked about actually going there.
B's dad didn’t wait for a reply.
He just took B’s mother and quietly led her upstairs.
B stormed out of the house, met up with A and me, and told us everything.
A:
"If his old man went that far, it must be serious."
Me:
"Wasn’t the rumor that it’s some cult hideout?
Maybe he’s telling you to go there and get brainwashed or something.
It’s scary, sure... but what are you gonna do? Are you going?"
B:
"Of course I’m going.
It’s obviously just a bluff."
Half-joking, A and I decided to tag along.
We gathered our gear, and by the time we headed out, it was past 1 a.m.
With flashlights in hand, we plunged into the forest, lighting the way as we walked.
The paths were clear enough for us to move even in light clothing, and we were used to wearing work boots, so it wasn’t hard to walk.
But it still took about 40 minutes to reach the forbidden zone.
However, we hadn't been walking for even five minutes when things started to get weird.
Right after we entered the woods, we heard something—
A faint sound, coming from far away, cutting through the nighttime silence.
B noticed it first.
B:"Hey... you hear that?"
When B said that, we strained our ears—and sure enough, we could hear it too.
The faint rustling of leaves being dragged along the ground...
The occasional snap of a branch breaking.
The sounds were distant and subtle.
Because they were so faint and far away, we didn’t really feel scared.
Before we could even think about it, our instincts told us:
"It’s probably just an animal."
With that in mind, we continued walking without much concern.
After deciding it must be some animal, we stopped paying attention to the sounds.
We had been walking for about twenty minutes when B suddenly stopped and said:
B:
"A, you go ahead and walk a bit by yourself."
A:
"Huh? Why me?"
B:
"Just do it. Hurry up."
Looking puzzled, A walked forward alone for a bit and then came back to us.
B frowned and seemed deep in thought.
A:
"Hey, what's going on?"
Me:
"Explain already!"
When we pressed him, B said, "Just stay quiet and listen carefully," and walked forward alone like he had made A do.
Then he came back.
He repeated it two or three times.
Finally, we noticed it too.
The faint sounds from afar—
they were matching our movements.
When we walked, the sounds would move too.
When we stopped, they stopped.
It was as if whatever it was knew exactly what we were doing.
A chill crept up my spine.
There was no light around us except for what we carried.
The moon was out, but the trees blocked most of it.
Even with flashlights, we could barely see each other in the darkness.
Sure, someone might see us because of the lights...
But in this pitch-black forest, where even we could barely spot each other,
how could anything follow us so perfectly—without light?
B:
"This isn’t funny. Someone’s tailing us?"
A:
"But it doesn’t feel like they’re getting any closer.
It’s been the same distance the whole time."
Just like A said, for the entire twenty minutes since we entered the forest,
the distance between us and the sound hadn’t changed at all.
It wasn’t getting closer or farther.
It just stayed exactly the same.
Me:
"Maybe we’re being watched?"
A:
"Feels like it... If it’s some cult, they might have weird tech or something."
Judging from the sound, it didn’t seem like a group.
It felt like just one person sticking close to us.
We stopped for a while to think.
But we decided it was too risky to try and find out what it was.
Instead, we stayed alert and kept moving forward.
The sound followed us the entire way.
But when we finally saw the fence, we forgot about the noise entirely—
because the fence itself was so bizarre it overwhelmed everything else.
None of us had ever seen it before, but it was way beyond what we had imagined.
And at the same time, a chilling thought crossed my mind.
Even though we usually laughed off ghosts and spirits,
this time, it was different.
Something about this place screamed that it was beyond normal.
Not just "a little creepy"—
seriously, dangerously wrong.
Maybe that was what all the rumors were really about...?
For the first time since entering the forest,
I seriously thought:
"We might be somewhere we shouldn’t be."
A:
"You seriously expect us to break through this and go in?
Anyone can see this isn’t normal!"
B:
"Shut up! Don’t chicken out over something like this!"
B shouted at us while we hesitated in front of the abnormal fence.
Then he started trying to break it down with the tools we had brought.
The noise of breaking branches was drowned out by the deafening jingle of countless bells.
But our tools were way too weak.
The fence was absurdly strong, almost unnaturally so—
like it was made of some special material.
In the end, we had no choice but to climb over it.
Thanks to the ropes, it was surprisingly easy to climb.
But the moment we landed on the other side—
we felt it.
A suffocating sense of being trapped.
Like we had stepped into a cage.
It wasn’t just me.
A and B clearly felt it too, hesitating before taking another step.
But we had already crossed over.
There was no turning back now.
As soon as we started walking again, we all noticed it.
The sound that had been tailing us the whole time—
it completely disappeared once we crossed the fence.
Honestly, the atmosphere was already so heavy that we didn’t even care anymore.
But then A said something that made it even worse.
A:
"Hey... what if that thing... was always inside here?
I mean, from what we can see, there’s no entrance or anything in this fence.
Maybe it couldn’t get out to reach us before..."
B:
"No way.
Even the spot where we first noticed the sound is way too far from here.
There’s no way it could’ve been watching us from inside this place."
Logically, B was right.
The restricted area was pretty far from the forest entrance.
It had taken us about forty minutes to get here, even moving at a good pace.
In terms of distance, it wasn’t close.
Still, after seeing that creepy fence and feeling how wrong everything felt,
we couldn’t completely dismiss what A said.
It was like... maybe we were dealing with something that wasn’t even human.
While A and I hesitated, B alone stayed defiant.
B:
"Ghosts or whatever—I don’t care.
If it can’t leave the fence, then it’s no big deal."
He boldly marched deeper inside.
After about 20 or 30 minutes of walking past the fence,
we started to see something strange.
Six trees were tied together with sacred ropes, forming a hexagonal space.
Real, formal shide (paper streamers) were attached to them—
different from the weird ones we saw on the fence.
And in the center of that hexagon,
there was a small offering box, like a donation box at a shrine,
sitting there all alone.
The moment we saw it,
none of us could say a word.
Especially A and me—we were seriously freaking out.
Even dumb kids like us knew that sacred ropes like these weren’t used for casual stuff.
They were meant to mark sacred or dangerous places.
And now, standing right in front of us,
there was no doubt—
this was why the whole area was off-limits.
We had finally gone too far.
Me:
"This must be what your dad was talking about."
A:
"No way I'm messing around here.
This is bad—really bad."
But B wouldn’t back down.
B:
"Doesn’t mean it’s evil or anything.
Let’s check out that box!
Might be treasure or something."
Without hesitation, B ducked under the ropes and stepped into the hexagon, approaching the box.
A and I, more worried about what dumb thing B might do than the box itself, followed cautiously.
The box was rusty, probably from being exposed to the rain.
The top had a mesh lid, but there was another board underneath, so we couldn’t see inside.
Also, some crazy-looking symbols were drawn all over the box in chalk or something.
It looked like a collection of family crests—
but each side had different ones, and not a single one repeated.
A and I tried not to touch the box if we could help it.
We warned B not to mess with it too roughly while we inspected it.
Apparently, the box was fixed directly into the ground.
It wasn’t heavy, but we couldn’t lift it at all.
As we carefully checked every side,
we realized that only the back panel could be removed.
B:
"Hey, this part comes off!
We can see inside!"
B pulled off the panel,
and A and I peered in over his shoulder.
Inside,
at each of the four corners,
there were urns shaped like PET bottles,
filled with some kind of liquid.
And in the center of the box—
there was a small stick, about five centimeters long,
painted red at the tip,
placed there in a weird way.
The shape was something like this:
／＼／＼＞
Six sticks arranged like that, with only the four points where they connected painted red.
Me:
"What the hell is this? A toothpick?"
A:
"Hey, look inside those PET bottle-looking things.
There’s something in them... it's disgusting."
B:
"So we come all this way, and it’s just some bottles and toothpicks?
Doesn’t make any sense."
A and I only lightly touched the bottle-like jars,
but B grabbed one, sniffed it, and then put it back.
Then he reached out to touch the ／＼／＼＞ object.
Maybe because his fingers were sweaty,
for a second it stuck to him—
and when he pulled away, the shape shifted slightly.
In that instant—
CHIRIN-CHIRIRIN!! CHIRIN-CHIRIN!!
From the direction opposite where we had come from—
deeper into the hexagonal clearing, near the faintly visible fence—
an explosion of bell sounds echoed out.
All three of us jumped and shouted "Whoa!" in shock,
instinctively turning to look at each other.
B:
"Who the hell is it?! Quit screwing around!"
Yelling, B started running toward the source of the sound.
Me:
"You idiot, don't go that way!"
A:
"B! Stop! It’s dangerous!"
We scrambled to chase after him.
But suddenly, B stopped dead in his tracks,
pointing his flashlight straight ahead,
frozen.
At first, we thought he was just messing with us.
Relieved, A and I rushed to catch up—
but then we saw it.
B’s whole body started trembling.
Me:
"H-hey... what's wrong?"
Even as I spoke, my gaze followed the beam of his flashlight.
It was aimed at the base of one of the trees.
From behind it—
a woman’s face was peeking out at us.
Just half her face, sticking out from the darkness,
completely unfazed by the light.
Her mouth was stretched wide open, showing both her upper and lower teeth.
Her eyes were glassy and lifeless.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaa!!"
Someone screamed—it could've been any of us—
and we all turned around and ran without even thinking.
My mind went blank.
It was like my body just took over on pure instinct.
Without looking back at each other,
we bolted toward the fence.
When it came into view, we lunged for it,
scrambling to climb over as fast as possible.
As soon as I reached the top, I jumped down and immediately took off toward the entrance.
But A—
A was struggling to climb the fence.
He couldn’t get a grip in his panic.
Me:
"A! Hurry the hell up!"
B:
"Move it! Get over here now!"
We were freaking out,
not knowing what to do as we waited for him.
Me:
"What the hell was that!?
What IS that thing!?"
B:
"I don't know! Shut up!!"
We were both completely panicking.
And then—
CHIRIRIN!! CHIRIN-CHIRIN!!
The bells exploded in sound again,
even louder than before—
and the fence started to shake violently.
What the hell…!?
Where was it coming from!?
Even in a panic, B and I instinctively scanned around.
The noise wasn’t coming from the entrance side—
it was coming from deeper into the mountain.
The direction opposite of our escape route.
And it was getting closer.
Fast.
The shaking of the fence and the ringing of the bells grew more violent by the second.
Me:
"This is bad! This is REALLY bad!"
B:
"Damn it, A! Hurry up already!!"
Even though we knew shouting at A was only making him panic more,
we couldn’t afford to stay quiet.
Desperately, A scrambled up the fence.
But just as he was about to reach the top,
B and I—
we weren’t even looking at him anymore.
We were frozen,
our whole bodies trembling,
sweat pouring down,
unable to even scream.
Noticing something was wrong,
A looked down from atop the fence—
and turned to see what had paralyzed us.
Clinging to the fence,
down the line toward the mountain—
there it was.
The thing.
At first, it had seemed like just a face.
But now—
we saw it clearly.
It was naked,
only the upper body visible.
It had three right arms and three left arms.
Using all six limbs,
it clung skillfully to the ropes and barbed wire,
mouth stretched wide in a grotesque grin,
crawling toward us like a spider weaving its web.
A terror beyond description.
"Uwaaaaaaaa!!"
A leapt off the fence in panic, crashing into me and B.
That snapped us out of it.
We grabbed A, dragged him up,
and sprinted for the entrance without looking back.
No thought.
No hesitation.
Just pure survival instinct—
eyes locked straight ahead,
legs moving on their own.
It probably didn’t even take thirty minutes to reach the entrance at full sprint.
But it felt like we had been running for hours.
When the entrance finally came into view—
we saw figures.
People.
We skidded to a stop, gasping for breath,
terrified they might not be human.
But no—
it was a group of people.
Real people.
The moment we realized that, we sprinted toward them.
"Hey! They’re out!"
"No way... Did they really go past the fence?"
"Hurry! Go tell his wife!"
The gathered crowd rushed over to us.
But we were too dazed—
we couldn’t even process what they were saying.
Without understanding anything,
we were bundled into a car and driven away.
Even though it was already past 3 a.m.,
they took us to a local community center,
the kind used for festivals and events.
Inside, our families were waiting.
My mother and older sister were there for me.
A’s father was there.
B’s mother was there.
My mother, who barely even spoke to me normally,
was crying.
B’s mother, too, was weeping openly.
And A said later that he had never seen his father’s face so shaken.
B’s Mother:
"You’re all safe... thank God..."
Unlike B,
both A and I got smacked—
me by my mom,
A by his dad.
But for the first time ever,
they spoke warm, kind words to us afterward.
After a while, once we had calmed down a little,
B’s mother stood up and bowed deeply.
B’s Mother:
"I’m so sorry.
This is all our family’s fault.
I am truly, truly sorry..."
She kept bowing again and again.
Even though it wasn’t my family,
watching a parent apologize like that in front of us kids
left a bitter taste.
A’s Father:
"That’s enough, ma’am.
They’re all safe. That’s what matters."
My Mother:
"She’s right.
It’s not your fault."
After that, the adults mostly talked among themselves.
The three of us just sat there, shell-shocked.
It was late,
and after confirming we were all safe,
they wrapped it up for the night.
We never got any proper explanation.
Just... everyone went home.
The next day, around noon,
I was shaken awake by my older sister.
When I opened my eyes—
her face was stiff with tension,
like the nightmare from last night still wasn’t over.
Me:
"What’s going on?"
Sister:
"B’s mom called. Something bad's happening."
She handed me the receiver, and I picked up the phone.
The moment I did, B’s mom screamed at me, frantic:
B’s Mother:
"B... B is acting strange!
What the hell did you guys do out there?!
You didn’t just go past the fence, did you?!"
She was so hysterical it wasn’t even a proper conversation.
I quickly hung up and rushed to B’s house.
A had also gotten the same call.
We met up and listened to B’s mother explain.
According to her,
after B got home last night,
he suddenly started screaming that his arms and legs hurt.
He couldn’t move them.
He collapsed with his arms and legs stretched straight out,
thrashing around in pain,
screaming "It hurts! It hurts!" over and over.
His mother tried desperately to help him,
but he just kept crying out in agony, making no sense at all.
She managed to drag him into his room somehow,
but the screaming hadn’t stopped.
That's why she called us—
to find out if we knew anything.
As we headed upstairs,
we could already hear him yelling from the bottom of the stairs.
"It hurts! It hurts!"
Over and over.
When we entered his room,
he was still thrashing on the floor,
arms and legs stretched stiff,
screaming.
Me:
"Hey! What’s wrong with you?!"
A:
"Pull yourself together! What's happening to you?!"
No matter how much we shouted,
B just kept crying "It hurts!" without even looking at us.
We had no idea what the hell was going on.
We went back downstairs.
This time, B’s mother spoke to us in a disturbingly calm voice:
B’s Mother:
"Tell me exactly what you did out there.
Not what you saw—what you did.
Everything depends on that."
Of course we understood what she meant.
But remembering everything that had happened...
just the thought of it made my stomach churn.
Trying to explain was torture.
Besides, what stuck out the most in our memories
was what we saw,
not what we did.
But B’s mom was very specific—
she cared about what we did,
not what we saw.
Pushed by her insistence,
A and I forced ourselves to think back carefully.
What did we do?
If it was about seeing that thing—
then all three of us should be suffering like B.
But if it was about doing something—
we had mostly acted the same...
except for one thing.
The box.
The PET-bottle-like jars.
We had touched them too.
But—
The toothpick.
Only B had touched that weird ／＼／＼＞ object.
Only he had shifted its shape—and left it that way.
A and I realized it at the same time.
It had to be the toothpick.
We told B’s mother everything.
Her face immediately twisted in horror.
She began trembling.
Then, without a word,
she pulled a piece of paper from a drawer,
checked something written on it,
and quickly made a phone call.
A and I just sat there, too stunned to move.
After a while, she hung up, turned to us, and spoke—
her voice shaking:
B’s Mother:
"They said they’ll meet with us if we go to them.
Go home and get ready right now.
I’ll explain everything to your parents.
Don’t worry, they’ll understand.
Come back here the day after tomorrow."
We had no idea what was going on.
Who were we going to meet?
Where?
Why?
She wouldn't explain anything clearly.
She just sent us home.
When I got back,
my mom didn’t ask any questions.
She simply said:
"Make sure you go."
Without understanding a thing,
two days later, A and I went with B’s mother to a certain place.
Apparently, B had already been taken there the day before.
I thought it would just be a bit far—
but we ended up not only leaving our town,
we crossed into a different prefecture.
It took several hours by Shinkansen,
then several more hours by car from the station,
until we finally arrived at a deep, remote village,
the kind you only see in old folk tales.
Even within that village,
we were taken to a large, isolated mansion.
It was massive, old, and impressive—
with separate wings, warehouses, and everything.
When B’s mother rang the doorbell,
an older man and a girl came out to greet us.
The old man looked rough, like someone you wouldn't want to mess with,
wearing a suit that didn't make him seem any friendlier.
The girl was a few years older than us,
dressed in a traditional white kimono and red hakama—
your typical shrine maiden outfit.
During the introductions,
the man, apparently the shrine maiden’s uncle,
gave us an ordinary family name.
But the girl introduced herself as something like "Aoi Kanjo?"
(That’s how it sounded to me.)
It wasn’t a normal name—
at least, not in the way people usually think about names.
From what little I could understand,
it meant we weren’t allowed to know anything about her real background.
We never did find out anything about her or her family.
For convenience, I’ll just write her name as Aoi from now on.
We were led into a huge tatami room.
Without any idea what was going on,
the atmosphere immediately turned heavy and formal.
Uncle:
"The boy is resting right now.
Are these the ones who were with him?"
B’s Mother:
"Yes. These three went to that place together."
Uncle:
"I see.
You boys—
can you tell us everything?
Where you went, what you did, what you saw.
As detailed as possible."
It caught us off guard.
But A and I somehow managed to explain everything about that night.
However—
the moment I mentioned the part with the toothpicks,
the uncle suddenly snapped:
"What did you just say?!"
His voice was low, harsh, and terrifying.
We froze up, completely confused.
A:
"Uh, what...?"
Uncle:
"You didn't move it, did you?!
Tell me you didn't touch it!!"
He leaned forward like he was about to grab us,
shouting with explosive anger.
But Aoi stepped in, gently stopping him,
and spoke in a tiny, trembling voice:
Aoi:
"At the center of the box...
there should have been small sticks arranged in a specific shape.
Did you touch them?
Did you disturb the arrangement even slightly?"
Me:
"Uh, yeah...
We moved it.
I think we messed up the shape a bit."
Aoi:
"Do you remember who disturbed the shape?
Not just who touched it—
who actually altered it?"
A and I looked at each other and said it:
it was B.
Hearing that,
the uncle leaned back and sighed heavily.
Then he turned to B’s mother and said:
Uncle:
"I'm sorry to say this,
but there’s nothing we can do for your son anymore.
I wasn’t told the full story at first,
but given his symptoms, I thought there might be other causes.
I didn’t think he had tampered with that thing..."
B’s Mother:
"No..."
She choked on her words and hung her head in silence.
Honestly, A and I felt the same way.
We couldn’t even bring ourselves to speak.
"What does he mean, nothing can be done?
What the hell are they talking about?"
I wanted to ask—
but no words would come out.
Seeing how devastated we all looked,
the uncle finally started explaining what we had encountered that night.
The creature we encountered is known by several names:
he common name is 『生離蛇螺(Narijara)』／『生離唾螺（Naridara）』
Historically called:『姦姦蛇螺（Kankan-Jara）』/『姦姦唾螺(Kankan-Dara)』
Depending on the era or the family background,
the names vary:
Narijara, Naridara, Kankanjara, Kankandara, and others.
These days,
most people simply call it Dara.
But in special families like theirs,
they still use the old name—Kankan Dara.
It's a being that’s closer to myth or legend than anything else.
Long ago, there was a village tormented by a giant serpent that devoured humans.
The desperate villagers turned to a family of shrine maidens,
who had inherited divine powers through their lineage,
and begged them to slay the beast.
The family accepted the request,
and sent their strongest shrine maiden to face the serpent.
While the villagers secretly watched from the shadows,
the maiden bravely fought the serpent.
But during a brief moment of weakness,
the serpent devoured the lower half of her body.
Still, she continued to fight,
using every bit of her remaining power to protect the villagers.
However—
deciding that a shrine maiden without her lower body was no longer useful,
the villagers made a horrifying decision:
they offered the maiden as a living sacrifice to the serpent
in exchange for the village's safety.
The serpent, who had always resented the shrine maiden’s strength,
readily agreed.
The villagers even cut off her arms to make her easier to consume.
Reduced to a torso, the shrine maiden was devoured alive.
Thus, the village obtained temporary peace.
Later, it was revealed that this had been part of a plan devised by the shrine maiden’s own family.
There had been six members of the family at the time.
The catastrophe struck immediately afterward.
The serpent vanished—
no longer seen anywhere.
And yet, people in the village began to die one after another.
In the village, in the mountains, in the forests.
All of the dead were missing either their right or left arm.
Eighteen people died in total—
including all six members of the shrine maiden’s family.
Only four people survived.
The uncle and Aoi took turns explaining.
Uncle:
"We don’t know exactly when or where this story started.
But that box you saw—
it’s been moved and re-consecrated on a regular cycle."
"Each time it moves, it has a different caretaker.
Remember those crests you saw on the box?
Those are the families who’ve hosted it over the generations."
"There’s a special council made up of families like ours who oversee it.
They decide the next location.
Sometimes some idiot even volunteers willingly."
"Other than the caretakers,
nobody is ever told about Kankan Dara.
The local residents are only told that it’s a ‘cursed site’
and given a contact for emergencies."
"When that happens,
someone like us—a 'consultant'—is always present during the explanation.
Just hearing that much is enough for people to understand something terrible is involved."
"The current consultant isn’t from our house,
but because this was urgent,
they contacted us yesterday."
Apparently, the place B’s mother had first called was someone else entirely.
After hearing the situation,
they brought B to this house and, after discussing it,
decided to hand the matter over here.
While we were still out in the forest that night,
B’s mother had already been on the phone,
learning some of the details.
Aoi:
"Normally, the box is placed in mountains or forests.
As you saw, the six trees and six ropes represent the villagers.
The six sticks represent the shrine maiden’s family.
And the four jars at the corners represent the four survivors."
"The specific shape formed by the six sticks—
that represents the shrine maiden herself."
"As for why this particular ritual structure was adopted,
and how exactly the box itself came to be the way it is—
even my family doesn’t know any more than what’s been passed down."
One common theory is that
the four survivors spent their lives studying every possible way to appease the shrine maiden’s curse,
and the current rituals are the result of their desperate efforts.
As for the fence—
only the bells were part of the original formal ritual.
The ropes and other modifications were made by the more recent caretakers.
Uncle:
"In our family,
there were several people who successfully banished Kankan Dara."
"But every single one of them died within two or three years."
"Suddenly.
No warning."
"And the people who originally triggered the curse—
almost none of them survived either."
"It’s that difficult to deal with."
Even after hearing all this,
the three of us were completely lost.
We could only sit there, dumbfounded.
But then—
the situation shifted again.
Uncle:
"Mother,
you must have some sense now of how dangerous this is."
"Like I said before—
if he hadn't moved the sticks,
there might have been hope."
"But now...
I'm afraid it’s too late."
B’s Mother:
"Please...
Please, there must be something you can do.
It’s my fault.
I’ll do anything—please save him."
B’s mother didn’t back down.
Even though there was no way this was her fault,
she kept bowing her head,
insisting it was her responsibility,
and begged desperately.
But she wasn’t crying—
her face looked like someone who had made up her mind.
Uncle:
"We want to help him too.
But if he moved the sticks and then saw that thing..."
"You saw it too, right?
What you saw was the shrine maiden who got eaten by the serpent."
"You saw the lower body too, right?
So you should understand what that shape meant."
Me and A:
"…Huh?"
We didn’t understand what he meant.
Lower body?
We had only seen the upper half.
A:
"Uh, lower body...?
We only saw the upper body."
Hearing that,
both the uncle and Aoi were visibly surprised.
Uncle:
"What are you talking about?
If you moved the sticks, you should’ve seen her lower half too!"
Aoi:
"When she appeared before you,
was she missing her lower body?
How many arms did she have?"
Me:
"She had six arms.
Three on each side.
But… no lower body."
We double-checked with each other before answering.
Suddenly, the uncle leaned forward again,
pressing toward us.
Uncle:
"Are you sure?
You really didn’t see her lower half?"
Me:
"Y-yeah... really."
The uncle turned back to B’s mother,
grinning.
Uncle:
"Ma'am,
there might still be hope."
Everyone froze, holding their breath.
Finally, they explained.
Aoi:
"There are two ways to receive the shrine maiden’s curse.
The first is changing the arrangement that represents her.
The second is seeing the true form that the arrangement embodies."
Uncle:
"Normally, the moment you move the sticks, it’s over.
You inevitably end up seeing her true cursed form."
"But somehow, you boys didn’t see that."
"Since everyone shares the same vision,
if you two didn’t see it,
then B probably didn’t either."
Me:
"What do you mean by 'didn’t see it'?
We did see something..."
Aoi:
"It was still the shrine maiden herself.
But it wasn’t Kankan Dara."
"She had no intention of taking your lives.
She appeared only as the shrine maiden.
For her, that night must have been like a game."
Apparently,
the shrine maiden and Kankan Dara were the same being—
and yet, different.
Uncle:
"Since Kankan Dara didn’t manifest,
what’s attacking that boy now is probably just playful mischief, as Aoi said."
"If you leave him to us,
it’ll take time,
but we can save him."
For the first time,
the heavy, oppressive air lifted.
Just hearing that B could be saved was enough.
The look on B’s mother’s face was unforgettable—
pure relief, like the crushing weight of the past few days had been lifted from her all at once.
Seeing her like that,
even the uncle and Aoi visibly relaxed,
acting more like regular people.
Uncle:
"We’ll officially take responsibility for the boy.
I’ll explain everything to you later, ma'am."
"As for you two,
let Aoi cleanse you before you head home."
"And from now on—
try not to mess with things you don’t understand."
After that,
there was a bit more discussion about B,
but his mother stayed behind.
A and I underwent a purification ritual before heading home.
It was one of the house rules—
we weren’t allowed to see B again,
and we never found out exactly what they did to him.
I don’t know if they treated it as a transfer or just kept him enrolled quietly,
but from that day on, we never saw B again.
At least, we know he didn’t die—
we heard he turned his life around and is living somewhere properly now.
By the way,
B’s father never showed up for any of it.
Not even once.
No idea what he was thinking.
A and I settled down pretty quickly afterward.
There were a lot of reasons,
but the biggest one was seeing B’s mother.
There was a bit of a small epilogue too—
she probably had the hardest time out of all of us.
Seeing her made me rethink what it meant to be a parent.
And after that,
both my family and A’s family started reaching out to us a little more.
Naturally,
we stopped screwing around like we used to.
Oh, and one more thing we learned:
Those shrine maidens who gathered on certain days?
They were family members of the "consultants"—
the ones who manage Kankan Dara.
Although Kankan Dara is recognized as extremely dangerous,
it’s also treated as a kind of godlike being.
The giant serpent it originated from was apparently once worshipped
as a mountain or forest deity.
That’s why, once a year,
they perform sacred kagura dances and offer norito (ritual prayers).
As for the sounds we heard when we entered the forest—
it turns out that Kankan Dara is basically left to roam freely inside the fence.
However,
the hexagonal formation and the box serve as a kind of seal.
As long as the sticks forming the hexagon remain undisturbed,
Kankan Dara almost never reveals itself.
The place where it’s consecrated is chosen according to specific rules.
A restricted part of a mountain or forest is designated,
with exact measurements carefully calculated to define the boundary.
Normally, it can’t leave that designated area.
But—
if it’s fenced in, like the one we saw,
it can sometimes cling to the outside, as it did with us.
That’s about all we managed to find out.
Apparently,
the Kankan Dara has already been moved away from where we live.
I never went to check—
I never want to set foot near there again—
but nearly a year later,
we heard that the fence had started to be dismantled.
So most likely,
it’s somewhere else now.
 When I was in elementary and junior high school, I was just a clueless country ki){kind=link}