Spawning the devil's time

"Mom, I brought Asakawa-san to see you…"

Itsuki folded his arms, closed his eyes, and said to herself.

Time always makes people grow.

Now Itsuki is not like before, every time she comes, she will wipe his tears, not forgetting, but engraving the past in his heart.

"All five of us have passed the test. If we continue, maybe we can pass all the subjects, mother will be very happy to know this news?"

"Even though Father is very busy and often doesn't see anyone, he is very kind to us, please don't worry."

"If possible, please appear in Asakawa-san and I's dreams."

"I really want to… listen to your teachings again."

After praying in silence for a while, Itsuki opened his eyes, exhaled gently, and said softly:

"Asakawa-san, you should have some incense."

"Um."

Naoki squatted in the middle of the road, lit the incense with a match, and placed it in the incense burner in front of the tombstone. Seeing Itsuki, Naoki excitedly looked up, he thought for a moment and said:

"Rest assured, I will encourage them to study hard and pass the re-exams successfully."

"I don't want to hear that."

Itsuki said softly.

Due to leaving school late, it took a lot of time to get the car on the road. After the incense, it was already sunset, and the twilight was over. The four grave fields raised a faint mist, and it became more and more quiet and lonely.

"Asakawa-san, should we go back?" Itsuki said softly.

Naoki was about to speak when an aged cough suddenly broke the silence of the grave.

"Cough cough cough…"

Its depressed Itsuki suddenly opened his eyes wide, and the hair on his head stood up like an electric shock. She hurriedly approached Naoki, and said nervously, "Asakawa-san, did you just hear about it?"

Naoki nodded lightly, and said:

"I heard it, it's a cough."

"Why would anyone cough at a time like this!"

Itsuki suddenly panicked.

Even though Itsuki really wanted to see his mother again, she didn't want to see anything in the graveyard!

"Maybe another tourist who came to offer incense?" Naoki pondered.

"Why didn't we see anyone along the way..." Itsuki grabbed Naoki's right hand nervously, leaned closer to Naoki's ear, "Could it be a ghost?"

"It's not dark yet, how can there be ghosts?"

"Now is demon time, it's normal for ghosts and monsters to appear..."

Itsuki suddenly turned to look into the depths of the grave: "There really is someone?!"

Naoki followed Itsuki's gaze, and an old woman wearing a kimono with silver hair carefully combed and looking extremely delicate appeared in the field of vision.

"Cough cough cough." The grandmother gently patted her back with her right hand. "I am old and my health is not good, I will cough after squatting for a while… Sorry, didn't scare you two?"

"Not." Itsuki shook his head subconsciously.

If it was a ghost, she would definitely pull Naoki and run away, but the person who coughed was an old woman with a kind face and a good voice, and her fear would naturally disappear without a trace, so she couldn't help but be curious to ask:

"Grandma, why can't I see you now?"

"I crouched in the back to sort out the bantapo." The old woman said apologetically, "I was afraid to scare you when I saw you coming, so I didn't stand up."

"So that's how..."

Itsuki heaved a sigh of relief, completely relaxed.

Naoki is pulled by Itsuki and finds that the bantapo here really need to be cleaned.

The so-called bantapo refers to the long wooden plaque that stands behind the tombstone. Usually used to worship the deceased. These objects are generally made of wood, as they are exposed to wind and rain in the open air, and are prone to rot and insect growth.

It does require people to clean it regularly, this is a funeral ceremony unique to Japan in the world. The reason is very simple——

One word, poor.

When Buddhism was introduced to Japan, the idea of traversing the sea of suffering and rebirth into a happy life was quickly welcomed by people from all walks of life and dreamed up by many.

To become a Buddha, it is often necessary to build a pagoda after death. Unfortunately ordinary people can't build pagodas at all. Some people have come up with a trick to take a shortcut and use five stones to build a pagoda. It reads in Sanskrit "Earth, Water, Wind and Fire" "Nothing", or the Lotus Sutra.

The civilians below couldn't even build a stone pagoda, so they could only use a wooden plaque as wide as a palm tree with a few indentations engraved on the top instead of five rounds, in the end, they became the most common bantapo today.

"Grandma, is there anything we can help you with?" Itsuki said.

Like the Yotsuba, she couldn't help but help when she faced adversity.

"No need." The old woman shook her head, with a friendly smile on her face, "I just finished tidying up, you go first, and I will accompany the old man for a while."

"Un, it's fine." Although she felt it was a bit inappropriate to leave the old woman here alone, but one of the daily rules was not to cause trouble, Itsuki naturally wouldn't force her to help, she could only say "Grandma, we're leaving."

Naoki stood beside her, and didn't speak until Itsuki turned to leave and followed her.

"It's dark." Itsuki looked up at the sky.

As she spoke, most of the red sun on the horizon had already fallen below the horizon, and the twilight was getting heavier.

"Besides, it's getting late." Naoki took out his cell phone and glanced at the time, "Go faster and come back to review your homework in the evening."

"Oh."

Itsuki promised, and then looked ahead, "Asakawa-san, can we dream of mother at night?"

"I don't know." Naoki told the truth, "I don't have enough data and information, so I don't know how to trigger the dream, let alone control it."

"Is that so..."

Itsuki was a little disappointed, when she was distracted, she suddenly slipped and almost fell.

Naoki grabbed Itsuki and pulled it up. He couldn't help but complain, "Don't be bothered when you go down the mountain, if your front teeth fall out and see what you do."

Itsuki didn't take it seriously at first, but hearing Naoki say this, he quickly raised his hand to cover his lips, and said with lingering fear, "That's too much, don't suddenly say such scary words!"

"If you know it's scary, don't bother."

"I didn't do it on purpose…" Itsuki suddenly stopped, "Wait a minute."

"What is wrong?"

"It will soon be dark, I almost fell while walking, the old lady was old and alone, it must be dangerous going down the mountain, right?"

Naoki asked again: "So what?"

Itsuki said, "So, let's go back and go down the mountain with that granny."

Naoki's tone became smooth: "Are you sure?"

"Of course." Itsuki looked up and said, "Asakawa-san didn't say anything, but you were actually really worried, right?"

"No, I'm not worried."

"Ugh-"

Itsuki grabbed Naoki's right hand, turned around and walked back, "Don't talk too much, let's hurry back."