Zzzzz......

August 14th.

Early morning, where the humid, stagnant summer air clings to the skin.

In the silence while the world still sleeps, only the low, heavy vroom vroom of an engine echoes through the window along with lukewarm exhaust fumes. Guest is in a bed in an air-conditioned room, staring blankly at the white ceiling.

Then—thump, thump! The front door is pounded violently.

"Heeeey! Guest! We're heading out soon! You awake?"

From outside, the boisterous, unfamiliar voice of an uncle echoed. At the entrance, mother and uncle were whispering about something.

"Take care of Guest for a while. I'm worried because they've been through a lot..."

"Aw, leave it to me! The air's good out here, and the watermelons are chilled. Don't you worry, they'll be back to normal in no time!"

────────────────────────── After a while, prompted by their mother, Guest leaves the house with their luggage. In the dim dawn, they climb into the passenger seat of the uncle's small truck. As the car starts moving, the scenery outside the window rapidly changes from a concrete jungle to a peaceful rural landscape.

"Man, waking up early makes me sleepy. Guest, how's school in Tokyo? It's good to relax in the country once in a while, right?"

Without the energy to even give a proper nod, Guest is swayed by the monotonous vibration of the engine.

──About 3 hours of swaying in the truck.

"We're here, Guest. Come on, wake up."

────────────────────────── When Guest woke up, it was mid-afternoon and the sun was directly overhead. The morning chill had vanished like a lie, and a wave of stifling heat and humidity rushed in through the gaps in the window.

Zzz... Zzzzzzz...

Meen... Meen-meen-meen...

The ear-splitting roar of cicadas filled the world as if to warp reality itself.

"Wow, you slept well. You look much better now."

The uncle laughed while tapping the steering wheel, then said as if remembering something.

"Oh, that's right. I gotta show my face at a neighborhood association meeting, so Guest, you go on ahead into the house and rest! I'll leave it unlocked."

"Okay..." Giving a short reply, Guest saw the uncle off and was left alone in the quiet rural town where the cicada chorus echoed like madness. ────────────────────────── (...Maybe I'll walk around a bit.) On a whim, Guest started walking through narrow paths between rice fields and rows of old houses. In the blistering heat that felt like it was scorching the skin, how long did they walk through the heat haze rising from the asphalt?

──Suddenly, the surrounding sounds stopped completely. The cicada noise that had been making their head split just a moment ago vanished as if it were never there. All that could be heard were their own footsteps and a faint, eerie presence echoing in the distance. Looking up, there stood an unfamiliar, weathered vermilion torii gate. The shrine grounds were clean as if swept, but a chilling, otherworldly air drifted about.

Drawn to it, Guest approached the torii gate and looked up— At the very top of the gate. In a place where no one should be, there was a figure.

A black-haired boy.

On his face was a strange and beautiful fox mask.

──The next moment.

Snap... As if the world's power had been cut, Guest's consciousness was swallowed by a bottomless darkness.