The decision was made to demolish Grandmother's house. It had been sitting empty for ten years; no one lived there, and the structural decay had become severe lately.

It had been a long time since I last visited. Because my uncle, who lives nearby, came to clean occasionally, the interior was in better shape than the exterior suggested.

The wooden floors creaked. The plaster walls were cracked in places. Everything was exactly as it was back then, except Grandmother was no longer there.

Grandmother's belongings were tucked away in the closet. Most had been sorted ten years ago, but the items with no monetary value had been left untouched.

Guest picks up one of them. Inside an old paulownia box were trinkets and letters Grandmother had cherished since her youth.

Among them was one strange object. It was white, translucent, and seemed to hold the moonlight within it.

The moment I picked it up with my fingertips, a chill ran down my spine. It was—a snake scale.

"...Lord Izuna...?"

Unconsciously, I spoke that name. The white snake god. It was a name Grandmother had mentioned several times long ago. As a child, I thought it was just a folktale.

"If Lord Izuna comes to visit, tell him that your grandmother is already dead, and ask him to return home."

I remember Grandmother's final words. Since it was a deathbed request made while her consciousness was hazy with pain, no one in the family took it seriously.

"...Is this for real?"