– Chapter 51: The Gods Wear Hollow Masks
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The rain had stopped.
But the city of Hoshiyama felt... off.
Like the silence after a scream.
Hiragi stepped off the bus, his black coat still damp.
Airi stood beside him, scanning the crowd.
Lain trailed behind—quiet, eyes distant.
Something was wrong.
Posters lined the walls.
Blood-red ink.
A festival was coming.
"The Festival of Hollow Gods"
It was supposed to be an old tradition.
Masks. Fireworks. Offerings to forgotten deities.
But this year—
People whispered about disappearances.
Masked figures seen at midnight.
A shrine that shouldn't exist.
And then...
"They wear the faces of those we've lost."
Hiragi felt it instantly.
Void energy. Distorted. Ancient. Not from this world.
Whatever was happening here...
Wasn't a celebration.
It was a summoning.
"I can feel them watching," Lain murmured.
"This city's dreaming something it can't wake up from."
The first corpse appeared that night.
Nailed to the shrine gate.
Smiling.
Wearing a porcelain mask cracked in two.
Its eyes were open.
But there was nothing behind them.
Just void.