Arakawa City, Tokyo
It was late autumn. The night was deep and quiet. Walking on the second floor of a Japanese-style residence, there was no light around Baishi Shū, and he could see no further than a few feet ahead of him.
He squinted into the corridor, trying to discern anything ahead, but woefully, what greeted him back was an impenetrable umbra that filled every inch of the premise.
He had lost track of time and had no idea how long he had been walking on this endless corridor. Suddenly, the floorboard transformed from a bright white to some sort of flame-licked black, and every step he took would be accompanied with an ugly squeak.
The wall of the corridor had turned black, and daubed with soot. There was a strange smell in the air. For a moment, he thought he heard the roar of flame, the crackle of wood as the floorboard fell victim to the great fire, and also the screams of people that consisted of nothing but a mixture of pure hysteria and fear.
Was that an illusion?
No, that was not an illusion, for a bluish flame suddenly materialized from the slit on the floor.
Within the blink of an eye, the flame spread and invaded into every inch and corner of the corridor. The fire was scorching hot; it had an eerie color and there was smoke spiralling on the ceiling.
An ordinary person would have been frightened out of their wit when setting against such an uncanny circumference, but that was not the case for Baishi Shū. He did not back away but continued to walk amongst the sea of bluish flame, feeling the intense heat spreading across his body and limbs.
Suddenly, a charred hand appeared out of thin air and gripped tightly to his ankle.
He looked over his shoulder to see a hideously charred body on the floor. Even though its face was entirely marred with burn marks, its painful expression was overflowing and Baishi Shū could clearly see the anguish in its eyes.
"Save… Save me…
"It is so painful… It's so hot…"
"What a poor soul. I will liberate you from your misery right away," a mellow and endearing voice rang out.
Slowly, Baishi Shū hunkered down. Sporting a repentant face, he held the torrefied hand up gently.
"Thank you, thank you…"
Then, without warning, the pain on its face vanished. A cruel smirk hopped onto its charred lips as its countenance contorted in malevolence. However, just before its voice faded away, a blazing bright palm landed on its forehead.
In an instant, the light chased the darkness away. The bluish flame extinguished, and the burnt floorboard and wall returned to normal. When the light dissipated, the fire ghost was nowhere to be seen and silence had returned inside the house.
The fire, the burning smell, the fire ghost… Everything had disappeared and it seemed like an illusion.
Crouching on the floor, Baishi Shū's delicate brows furrowed into a frown of confusion.
"Something doesn't… seem quite right."
The technique Baishi Shū used just now was the Palm of Great Brilliance. It was supposed to cleanse the evil spirit of its grudge, exorcise its evil, and help it ascend into heaven. Never did Baishi Shū expect that the fire ghost would be pulverized in one hit.
Could it be…
'Could it be that it was too effective and sent the evil spirit directly to Western Paradise?'
"It must be a sign that Buddha is calling you back to the pure land sooner, mister. This is a moment worthy of commemoration," said Baishi Shū as he nodded with satisfaction. After that, he lowered his head and began chanting Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra, the mantra used to release the soul of the deceased from their suffering.
After ascertaining that the ghost had been purged, Baishi Shū then exited the building. A middle-aged man was standing by the door. When he saw Baishi Shū, he quickly went up to him and asked nervously, "How is it going, young shifu?"
"Rest assured, Mr. Nishimura. The evil spirit has been contained, so you can lease the house now," comforted Baishi Shū.
The middle-aged man's name was Nishimura. He was the owner of the house and also the one who hired Baishi Shū.
Nishimura and his family used to stay in this house, but since that was not the case anymore, the entire family had made the decision to rent the house out to earn some pocket money.
It was a common thing for landlords in Japan to simultaneously rent their houses to multiple tenants. Something terrible happened in Nishimura's house not long ago. The house caught fire and claimed a life.
According to the investigation, the fire was caused by a discarded cigarette. When the victim fell asleep after soaking himself up in liquor, the cigarette dropped onto a piece of flammable material and set things ablaze. Since he was deep asleep, he could not escape in time. In the end, he was burned to death. The investigator closed the case as a suicide.
Even though Nishimura, the landlord, did not end up getting the shorter end of the stick, he had spent a large portion of his savings to renovate the house. Needless to say, the fire incident had greatly damaged his rental business. People were getting more and more reluctant to rent his house, and after hearing that his house was haunted, nobody was willing to stay there anymore.
As a last resort, Nishimura sought help from his friend. His friend then found him a monk who was said to have mystical powers that could perform an exorcism at a low price to chase away evil spirits.
Right now, after getting a reassuring answer from Baishi Shū, Nishimura's highly-strung nerves finally relaxed. He moved his hand to his pocket, attempting to pull a cigarette out. However, nobody knew why he suddenly stopped. Then, he turned to Baishi Shū and sighed, "Young shifu, you probably don't know about this, but that evil spirit was one of my tenants. His name was Kawaguchi Shota. What a poor fellow."
He paused for a moment to take a breath before continuing. "He came from Iwate Prefecture. After he graduated from high school, he left his hometown and followed his girlfriend to Tokyo when she got admitted to a university here. Things weren't easy for the couple, but they got through each obstacle together. Everything seemed fine for them until some time ago, before the fire incident, when his working place shut down and he was out of a job. As he was looking for a new job, reality gave him a second hit. A few days later, perhaps his girlfriend was enthralled by the din and bustle of a great city, for she cheated on him and left him for another man.
As if it were the last straw that breaks the camel's back, he started hitting the bottle. Then, the fire happened and took his life. Maybe it is this kind of despair that made him into an evil spirit. Life is tough. It is an abyss of misery. I think this is what you monks used to say, right?"
Baishi Shū nodded. He did not reply instantly but fell into thought. After a few seconds, he said, "Buddha said it is all part of the game, regardless of life or death. Everyone in this world has their own ebb and flow in their life and may encounter many defeats. This is why we must enrich ourselves and keep a positive mind so that we won't get swayed by evil thoughts. We must study well and make progress every day! We must use our crisis pain as crisis fuel to propel ourselves forward, stronger, and wiser! This way, even when life throws us curveballs, we can hold on until that clean and bright future arrives!"
"..."
Nishimura was stumped. His hand that was pulling out his wallet stopped, and his tongue was deprived of utterance when he heard what Baishi Shū said.
Even though he was not a Buddhist and had never seriously studied Buddhism before, he felt that something was wrong.
'Ebb and flow of life? Use our crisis pain as crisis fuel to propel ourselves forward? Hold on until that clean and bright future arrives? Has Buddha ever said that? Isn't it supposed to be 'in repentance there is salvation'?'
Nishimura suddenly had a feeling that he did not know whether or not he should trust the monk in front of him. Be that as it may, Nishimura felt it was bad to not pay Baishi Shū after asking him to come and conduct a religious rite in the middle of the night.
Besides, looking at Baishi Shū's shaved head, and his young and strong body that was enwrapped under his grey robe, Nishimura did not hesitate to take out the ten thousand Yen that both of them had agreed on in advance.
Taking over the money, Baishi Shū gave a bow in satisfaction.
"Thank you, mister. I will take my leave now."
"Be careful on your way home, young shifu," bade Nishimura as he saw Baishi Shū off.
After the grey figure disappeared into the corner, Nishimura turned around and looked at his house, which was shrouded under the night sky. Suddenly, he shuddered.
Not wanting to stay there anymore, he quickly left.
'Let's come back after tomorrow. If the house is still haunted, it means the monk is a liar! There is no such thing as a free lunch. I should find a more famous shrine next time.'
Baishi Shū did not know about Nishimura's thought since he had already gone very far away. Walking under the streetlights, he played with the ten thousand yen before stuffing the stack of money into his pouch.
'Today is a big harvest day!'
Aside from paying his tuition fees and daily expenses, Baishi Shū had saved up half a million Yen in one year. Even though it wasn't much, Baishi Shū reckoned it was more than sufficient to restore the Buddha statue and refurbish the temple…
However, after listing out the things he wanted to do with the money, he realized that half a million was not enough.
Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about. After all, Baishi Shū had made himself a name in Tokyo by dissipating evil spirits and performing religious rituals.
At first, Baishi Shū had to promote himself from door to door, as nobody trusted him since he was too young for the job. But now, more and more people approached him from time to time for his services such as soul-expiation and combating supernatural threats, to name a few. The success of his business was the result of the word-of-mouth recommendation. Most of his customers came to him after being introduced by their friends.
Two years since he was reborn into this world, Baishi Shū had completely integrated himself here.