That's right!
I had read something about it in one of Master Kagami's books.
The Shichinin misaki were a group of seven ghosts of people who have died from an accident or calamity. They appeared together as a group of seven ghosts and people who encountered them experienced high fever and eventually, died.
Their number never increased or decreased since, by killing one person, one of the ghosts was able to find peace and, in its place, the human who died became one of the Shichinin misaki.
'You think that it's the Shichinin misaki?!' said the old man, tensed. He became thoughtful for a minute, before he acknowledged, 'Yes! It is well the way that they operate!'
'We need to to perform a service to exorcise the afflicted members of your family and help the Shichinin misaki find peace,' Agasa told him. 'We're lucky that you're a priest. Can you make all the arrangements necessary?'
'Yes! Yes!' he replied, urgently and getting to his feet, he got to work immediately.
After all the preparations were done and all the seven ailing members of his family were regrouped within the same space, we started the service.
Incenses were burnt and the old priest chanted Buddhist sutras.
We waited for a few hours to see the outcome, but to our great disappointment there still was no change in the ailing members of the Daidōji family's condition.
This made us dead anxious.
We had found the cause of their illnesses, but no way to heal them.
'I was thinking about something, you know,' Agasa told me, suddenly, as we were sitting under the veranda of one of the buildings. 'There are many legends about the progenitor of the Shichinin misaki, going from a military commander to female high school students, but I've never read anything about this group of ghosts in this region. There's no river or sea in the environ either.'
My eyes widened at her. 'You think that someone could have invoked them here?'
'That's what I fear. We have both seen the reactions of the villagers earlier. And it's only the members of the Daidōji family who have been afflicted.'
'The only person who can make the ghosts leave is most probably the very one who has invoked them. We need to find that person before it's too late. The problem is that it can be anyone in the village.'
'Not necessarily. Not everyone has the right knowledge about how to invoke and control such powerful ghosts. Let's ask the old Buddhist priest if he knows someone who comes out of the ordinary that could match the profile!'
We went to question Shūshin Daidōji about it immediately.
'Now that you mention it, there is that man, Udzuki Naru. He has always asserted to be able to see spirits and he grows all kind of strange herbs in his garden. But why are you asking me this? Do you think that someone could have laid this curse onto my family?'
'It's highly plausible,' replied Agasa, reluctantly.
The old Buddhist priest held his face in his hands, shaking his head.
'My! This is all my fault! I feel so guilty for what the members of my family have been going through because of me!'
'No, please, don't blame yourself for what's happening!' I told him. 'You didn't do anything wrong! I admire you a lot for what you did! You're an honorable person! You can't imagine all the good you've done around you!'
Shigeru Sōo's words echoed in my ears.
"At that moment, I understood the distress of the parents of a suicided child; the distress that is felt when a defunct loved one is refused peace... You can't imagine what I felt; the peace of mind it had brought me. I am forever grateful to him."
'We're going to find the culprit and make sure that he pays for what he did!' Agasa assured him and we set out on the spot to find Udzuki Naru.
The latter lived in a hut in the southern part of the village. Apparently, he wasn't at home.
'These herbs,' said Agasa as she examined some of the plants growing in the man's garden. 'They have supernatural properties and are used in many different rituals of sorcery.'
Straightening up from her crouched position, she strode her way up to me again and taking a quick look around us, she slipped the sash window of the hut open.
'I'll go take a look inside to see if I can find anything.' Giving me a condescending look, she added in a sneer, 'If you get yourself caught for breaking and entering, you'll be sent back to prison directly! So, you stay here and watch out if somebody's coming this way! And don't fall asleep!'
I kept my eyes wide open during the whole time she was inspecting the hut and fortunately, I didn't have any sleep attack.
'I believe that we've found our man!' she declared when she came out of the hut, putting a notebook up in front of my face. 'In this notebook, you can find loads of banned rituals written in explicit details, including a whole chapter on the Shichinin misaki. Not to forget that there are all kind of ingredients and stuffs that are used for sorcery crowding his hut.'
'That man is very dangerous! We need to find him immediately!' I told her, anxiously.
'I've noticed that some of his clothes and other personal things are missing.'
Can it be that, having learnt the news of our arrival in the village, Udzuki Naru has fled, unwilling to take any risks?!
My heart accelerated in my chest.
If he manages to escape-
'Oi! What are you doing over here?' came a masculine voice, suddenly and we looked around to see Shigeru Sōo coming towards us.
'We absolutely need to find Udzuki Naru as quickly as possible,' I told the man, urgently, when he reached us.
'Udzuki Naru? Well, I've seen him earlier! He was headed to the train station!'
Alarmed, Agasa and I exchanged a look.
'We need to stop him!' she exclaimed, and we began to hurry for the train station, Shigeru Sōo tagging along. 'Do you know at what time his train will be leaving?'
'There's only one last train left for the day. It'll leave in two and half hours. But why do you want to stop him? What's going on?'
***
Catching her breath, Agasa plumped down in the seat opposite of the middle-aged man, while I remained standing, panting hard for having ran so fast, this far.
'Are you going somewhere, Udzuki Naru?' Agasa demanded at him.
The latter was a short man of average size with a half-shaved head.
He stared at the dark-haired girl, then at me, his expression nervous.
'You're the monster-hunters everyone's talking about in the village, aren't you? I'm going to visit my sister. Is there a problem?'
'You don't have any sister,' Agasa pointed out, blankly. Then, she pulled out the katana hidden in the handle of her umbrella just enough for the man to see the metal glint, and giving him a threatening look, she told him, 'Follow us quietly out of the train!'
Udzuki Naru paled, breaking into cold sweat.
Out of the blue, he hurled his luggage bag at Agasa, jerking to his feet at the same time, and in another abrupt movement, he shoved me backward by my chest violently, causing me to fall headlong on the floor of the train, before he began to flee.
Recovering ourselves, Agasa and I pursued after the middle-aged man.
Just as he stepped onto the platform of the station, abruptly, he came to a brutal stop as Shigeru Sōo caught him in an arm-lock, throwing him to the ground onto his back.
'Where do you think you're going, Udzuki Naru?' Shigeru Sōo demanded at the man, who was pretty knocked out by the blow.
Agasa and I got down from the train, which was about to leave.
To arrive at the station, we had had to traverse the mountain and cross several crops field, but fortunately, we had arrived just in time before the departure of the train.
'We know what you have done!' Agasa stated at Udzuki Naru, showing him the notebook she has found.
He picked himself up to attempt another escape but the dark-haired girl hurled her umbrella in the air and it rained projectiles and balls of fire, preventing the man from taking a step further.
Turning to face us, Udzuki Naru spat with venom, 'Shūshin Daidōji has committed a sacrilege! He knows that it's unholy to bury the suicided and conduct funerary prayers for them and yet, he continues despite everyone's warnings! He needed to be punished for having transgressed the taboo and I'm here for that!'
'Our beliefs aren't supposed to bring doom in our lives and that of others. All that I can see is that there are many deaths and you're responsible of them! Seven people have died and many others are going to continue to be killed. You're going to spend the rest of your life in prison for mass murder through the practice of sorcery!'
The man began to tremble, with rage or fear, I didn't know which; maybe both.
'Stop everything right away, Udzuki Naru!' ordered Shigeru Sōo. 'And maybe, these young ones will be able to get your sentence alleviated!'
It was a bluff, of course.
Udzuki Naru seemed to consider it.
'Even if I wanted to, I'm not in measure of doing it. I've called the Shichinin misaki here, but they won't leave unless they've decided it. Shūshin Daidōji is going to see all the members of his family disappear in front of his eyes and he'll be the last one of his family to go!'
Breaking into hysterics, he laughed his head off and cried at the same time, thrilling us with horror.
***
On the other side, in Toda...
Tsunan and Hatsu were having a drink at the Ametsuchi Bar.
'Say, what did Shun wanted to talk to you about the other day?' asked the doctor, and a crooked smile appeared on the blond male's face.
'It intrigues you, doesn't it?' Hatsu teased. 'What did she want to tell me that she couldn't talk in front of you?!' He giggled maliciously, adoring the little torture.
'Stop clowning about and answer me!'
'Sorry, my dear Tsunan! I can't tell you anything!'
The doctor looked at him with narrowed eyes. He knew that his blond friend was serious. He had somewhat expected the latter would say that. That was why the doctor had waited for Heihachi to go to the bathroom for him to question Hatsu.
'If you don't tell me what I want to know, I'll reveal all the embarrassing moments of your life to Heihachi!'
Hatsu choked onto his drink. 'Whoa, calm down! We don't have to go to that extremity!'
Oh god! Shun is going to kill me! moaned the blond male interiorly, and letting out a heavy sigh, he gave in and began telling the doctor about the incident that had caused Heihachi to appear in front of Shun as a human being for the first time.
'What?!' exclaimed Tsunan, his eyes widening in shock.
The doctor remembered that other day when Shun and he had gone to the supermarket together while her eyes were injured and somebody had been trying to play pranks on her during their whole way back home.
When he had asked his grand-father afterwards with whom he has been talking to outside of the door, the latter had told him that it had been with Cho, Agasa and Yanagi.
Hatsu carried on, telling him about his blackmailing Cho, Agasa and Yanagi with embarrassing photographs of them, and Shun having found out about it.
***
After having handed Udzuki Naru over to the authorities for sorcery, we had headed back to the village of Ogita.
The atmosphere at the temple was impossibly heavy so much the tension was immense.
Agasa, Shūshin Daidōji and I spent the whole night in the room adjoining the one where the ailing members of the Daidōji family were resting, trying desperately to think of a way to save the victims of the Shichinin misaki.
'Maybe, he lied,' I murmured, from where I was sitting against the wall with my knees brought up against my chest.
'I don't think that Udzuki Naru lied,' contradicted Agasa. 'I've read the notebook time and again. There's no ritual to help the Shichinin misaki find peace.'
Feeling utterly depressed, I decided to go take some fresh air outside.
We were approaching daybreak and a small cold wind was blowing as I stepped onto the veranda.
Closing the sliding door, I turned around and became face to face with a strange entity, out of the blue.
The latter had the appearance of a tall and rather muscular young man of around my age, with shingle blond hair and front fringes, the sides coming down to his chest. He was clothed in a white hakama and hakamashita.
His pale skin, his hair, his clothes, in fact, his whole being, was glowing with white light!!!
Scared out of my wits, I jumped backward and crashed into the sliding door behind me, ending up on my behind in the room where Agasa and Shūshin Daidōji were.
The dark-haired girl and Buddhist priest jerked to their feet to stare frantically at the entity holding himself under the veranda of the building, facing us.
'Don't be scared!' the latter told me, speaking in a musical voice. 'I mean you no hurt. My name is Raito and I'm the Kami of this region.'
'Ra-Raitogami!' I gasped, remembering the hokura on the side of the road where I had taken shelter.
Entering, he made his way up directly to the sliding door which led to the room where the ailing members of the Daidōji family were resting, and slipping the door open, he walked into the room.
He- He's a Kami!
None of us dared to move so much we were astounded.
When he came back after a few minutes, he informed Shūshin Daidōji, 'I've helped the Shichinin misaki find peace. The members of your family are out of risk now. They'll recover very quickly.'
His eyes shifted onto me then and I scrambled myself into a respective position, with my legs under me, my palms resting on the floor in front of me, my head bowed.
'Thank you!' I murmured, full of gratitude.
'It has been decades since I haven't been able to leave the World of Kami to walk this land, but thanks to you for having had a thought for me, now I can manifest myself in this world again. Since you're my first devotee since a long time, I accept to grant you a wish.'
A wish?
I took a glance at Shūshin Daidōji.
'Will you- Will you please keep an eye on the cemetery and help the souls of the suicided persons find peace, please?' I asked him, timidly.
'Granted! And from this day onward, you'll only have to call my name in times of trouble for me to appear.'
With this said, the Kami faded into tiny orbs of light that flew out of the room.
Thank you for reading!