Hideji immediately realized that the girl who appeared in the village was Misuzu, who had moved to another town long ago. Misuzu says she is fed up with life in the city, has run away from home, and plans to stay in the village for a while. Although Hideji senses something unsettling about Misuzu’s demeanor, he is so elated by their reunion that he is persuaded to promise to keep her runaway status a secret.

Then, another woman appeared in the village. She told Shuji that he must perform a ritual or he would die.

Repeated incidents of people vanishing mysteriously and a festival modeled after human sacrifice had drawn public condemnation, so the village had performed an exorcism at the shrine a year ago. The woman said the exorcism should never have been performed. She explained that the ritual must be performed to revive that place...