Chapter Two: Legend of Koga Shinji:

The girls and their grandmother found the grandfather in the living room with his lunch on the table. He and his wife usually ate in the kitchen. But today had nice weather and the living room had screens. So, he thought, why not? He looked up and saw his grandchildren walking in with his wife.

“Hey girls!” he called out.

“Grandpa!!!” Ayame called as she raced over to him. She hugged him tightly. He looked at her with sweet rascal charm.

“You’re not my granddaughter!” he called out.

“Yes, I am!” Ayame said with a giggle.

“No, you’re not,” the old man said. “My Ayame-chan is this big!” He held his arm to about her waist. The girl giggled a little bit.

“I grew up some!” Ayame called.

“Oh!” the grandfather replied. Ayame laughed again. The old man turned to Aiko.

“And who is your friend?” he asked. Aiko rolled her eyes. He always played this game with them both. The man knew that they had grown up. But, he just loved to play this game to wind them up. It may have been cute the first few times. But now, the game had become ridiculous.

“It’s me grandpa!” she called out loud. “Your other granddaughter!” The old man looked at her as if she had been crazy.

“No you’re not!” he called. “Aiko is about Ayame’s height now!” Her little sister giggled again. Aiko rolled her eyes again.

“I grew up, granddad!” she called. “It happens.” The old man laughed at her.

“I guess it does!” he called. Ayame and the grandmother laughed with him. Aiko rolled her eyes again. “Oh great!” she thought. “Every single damn time he does this!” A long two weeks this visit would turn out. Everyone calmed down.

“In any case,” the grandmother spoke up. “Let’s all eat! I bet you girls are hungry from your long trip!”

“Yeah!!!” the girls called out together. In three minutes, the family began to eat their lunch of fresh vegetables and roasted meats. Ayame bit off piece of her grilled chicken on a skewer. She chewed it up quickly and swallowed it. She turned to her grandfather smiling.

“Tell us a story, grandpa!” she called out. “Tell us a story!” Aiko tried to tune her out while helping herself to another pickled radish. The grandfather smiled at his younger granddaughter.

“Okay dear,” he said. “I’ll tell you the legend about Koga Shinji.” Aiko turned with some slight interest. Ayame looked on with big eyes.

“Ooo!” she called. “How does that one go?” The old man smiled boldly. His wife looked at him sharply.

“Hideo!” she backed in a matching tone. “If you tell them that story, they’ll be up for weeks with nightmares!” That only heightened the girl’s curiosity even more.

“Come on tell us!” Aiko demanded.

“Yeah, tell us!” Ayame called. The old man looked over at his wife.

“Come on Setsuko,” he said to his wife. “The girls want to hear it so badly.” He leaned over to them.

“Look like sweet little angels,” he whispered softly. Aiko and Ayame complied quickly.

“See?” Hideo said. “They want me to tell the story so badly! So come on, please!” Setsuko sighed out loud.

“Fine,” she said. “But I won’t be responsible for what happens next!”

“Yeah!” the girls called. The old man smiled.

“Okay,” he said. “Back in Feudal Japan, farmers owned this land. The villagers worked hard to make ends meet. One young farmer, Koga Shinji, was to marry a young woman he love named Emiko. She was just as beautiful as your grandmother when she was in high school. Their love proved stronger than the sun. They were to wedding at the beginning of summer. But, fate had other plans.”

“What happened grandpa?” Ayame asked. The old man held up his hand.

“In the darkest night of the harvest,” he went on. “Emiko was raped and murdered on her way home from seeing her sick mother. Everyone went looking for her when she didn’t return for dinner later that night. The villagers found her body floating in the cold river two weeks later. Her body had been ripped up into shreds pretty badly. They say a demon did that to the poor girl. When Shinji saw what was left of her floating in the river, he went mad. He slain dozens of farmers and strangers, burned many crops, and killed many cattle. No one could help the poor man. He just ended up living a sad and lonely life. The man died all alone.” The girls looked on heartbroken. But then, their grandfather leaned in really close.

“However, they say when summer comes around in the country side,” he said. “Strange things begin to happen. Pets and animals turn up dead in random places. Plants are destroyed without warning. And finally, people turn up missing and dead.” The girls looked on pale with terror. The old man smiled at them in a warm way.

“But don’t worry girls,” he said. “The thing anything weird has ever happened was back in 1970. What year is this now?”

“2009,” Aiko replied.

“Yeah, so it is,” Hideo replied. “In any case, everything will be fine now.” Ayame breathed out in relief.

“Now,” Setsuko cut in. “Grandpa and I have some work to do in the field. You run along and play. But don’t stray too far into the woods. Okay?”

“Okay!” Ayame called out. Setsuko turned to Aiko.

“You will watch over your sister, right?” she asked. The older girl gave her a nod.

“Like always,” she replied. The old woman smiled at her.

“Good,” she said. “Now run along!” Aiko turned to her little sister.

“Come on Ayame-chan,” she said. “Let’s go outside now.”

“Yay!” Ayame called out. Then, the girls hurried outside. Their grandparents watched on smiling.

“Think they’ll be okay?” Setsuko asked her husband. Hideo nodded as the sliding screen door closed shut.

“Of course,” he replied. “He hasn’t been back since the 70’s. He has no reason to kill anymore. And besides, the girls are innocent to the past. So maybe it’ll pass them by.” His wife thought about that for a moment. She nodded in agreement with him.

“Yeah,” Setsuko replied. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course, I am!” her husband reassured. “Now shall we get to work in the field now?”

“All right,” Setsuko replied. Then, they headed outside to their fields. If they had only known of the terror of the old legend had begun once again.