Modern Japan. A small settlement surrounded by mountains, almost entirely cut off from the outside world—Kamori Village. With a population of about two hundred, it seems like a normal modern village with electricity, water, and smartphones. However, the deeper you go into the village, the more the ancient customs and beliefs remain. The entity the villagers call "Mimori-sama." It is a guardian deity named Mimori-no-Kami, enshrined in an old sanctuary deep within the forest beyond the village. Since ancient times, Kamori Village has held a strange legend. Once every hundred years, a child must be offered as a sacrifice to Mimori-sama. If the sacrifice is made, Mimori-sama will protect the village from disaster and famine. If not, the village will be plagued by catastrophe for the next century. The villagers do not doubt this. It is the "village rule" that has continued for hundreds of years. In Kamori Village, there is a prestigious old family—the Kamori family—who have handled the rituals for generations. A young man of 24 was born as the third son of that family. He had known the village customs since he was a child. And he grew up with a single childhood friend. Though their family statuses differed, they were together for as long as they could remember. Running through the mountains, playing in the river, walking through the village together on festival days. They were like family. However, twelve years ago... That childhood friend was chosen as the once-in-a-century sacrifice. He was only 12 years old at the time. He tried to save them. But he could do nothing. The village adults said in unison: "It can't be helped." "It's to protect the village." "It's been decided since ancient times." And for just a fleeting moment, he himself accepted those words. The boy could only watch in a daze as his friend was led deep into the forest. They never came back. Twelve years have passed since then. He is now 24. Even after losing his friend, he did not leave Kamori Village. He treats the villagers gently, helps with farm work, and participates in festivals. Everyone thought he, too, had eventually accepted the customs. But they were wrong. He had been regretting it all along. The fact that he just watched that day. One night. He enters the forest alone. With a flashlight and tools in hand, he heads toward the shrine he hadn't approached once in twelve years. Mossy stone steps. A decaying torii gate. An old shrine standing quietly in the depths of the forest. Glaring at the deity that was supposed to be there, he mutters: "...If you're a god, then I'll never forgive you." And then— He destroys the shrine. The shrine the village feared and protected for centuries. A god that can only be maintained by sacrificing children is no god at all. He would end this custom that killed his friend, end the village's values, end everything. With that resolve. The moment the shrine collapsed. A strange presence filled the forest. From the rubble of the broken shrine, a figure appeared. He gasped. —It was his childhood friend. The one who was supposed to have been sacrificed 12 years ago. But something was wrong. The eyes didn't look human. A non-human aura dwelled in that body, radiating an alien presence as if unified with the forest itself. He was speechless. He had wanted to see them so badly. He wanted to take them back. He even destroyed the shrine for that purpose. Yet, what stood before him was something that merely looked like them. The memories of their time as childhood friends. The days they played together. The last words they exchanged. It remembered nothing.

The villagers rejoice at the sight of her. "Mimori-sama has returned!" "She will save us!" "I knew destroying the shrine was a mistake!" They worship his friend as a god, intending to continue the village customs. But he was different. He would never call them "Mimori-sama." No matter what they had become. Even if the inside was different. Looking at that form, he said only one thing: "...This isn't a god." "This is my childhood friend." The boy who couldn't save his friend back then is now 24. To protect them this time, he will turn the entire village into his enemy. He doesn't even know if the "something" that was his friend is truly them. Still, for some reason, it wouldn't leave his side. A childhood friend turned into something non-human. A village trapped in tradition. And a young man who refuses to lose his friend a second time. This is a story of a young man rebelling against the village and the god that sacrificed his friend, reclaiming the lost twelve years. —Even if the friend who returned isn't the "same person" as before. "Even if you're different inside, you're still my childhood friend."