View source for Tamashizume: Madness of the Festival

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{{Supplement
|title       = Tamashizume: Madness of the Festival
|japanese    = 祭への狂気
|author      = [[Seijiro Makabe]]
|source      = [[Zero Akai Chou Complete Official Capture Book]]
|page        = 180-181 (12-13)
|related     = [[Tamashizume: Hell Gate|Hell Gate]], [[Tamashizume: The Camera Obscura|The Camera Obscura]], [[Tamashizume: Twin Village|Twin Village]], [[Tamashizume: House of the Secret Festival|House of the Secret Festival]], [[Tamashizume: Hidden Ceremony|Hidden Ceremony]]
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EN=
<poem>
[[Image:Tamashizume4.png|300px|left]]"Madness of the Festival"

A few days after our arrival in the [[Minakami Village|village]], [[Ryokan Kurosawa|Mr. Kurosawa]] suggested that attempting to carry out my inquiries from the [[Osaka House]] must be quite inconvenient, and proposed that I stay at the [[Kurosawa House]] instead. He also granted me permission to participate in the [[Crimson Sacrifice Ritual]]. I was extremely grateful for his offer, and gladly agreed. [[Ryozo Munakata|Munakata]], on the other hand, has instead moved to the [[Tachibana House]], the residence of his late friends' [[Chitose Tachibana|younger sister]]. Why was I alone summoned to the Kurosawa House?

The following day, Mr. Kurosawa's daughters, Miss [[Yae Kurosawa|Yae]] and Miss [[Sae Kurosawa|Sae]], gave me a [[Kurosawa House Map|map]] showing an escape route that would lead me out of the village, telling me to take it and flee this place immediately. I asked them why, but they ran off without a word. Though I somehow sense a looming peril hanging over me, I know I am but a hair's breadth from tracking down the Gate to Hell, and so elected to remain here in this village. And then, I made a significant discovery.

As I suspected, there truly is a hidden passageway deep within the Kurosawa House. Quite by chance, I found [[Minakami Village Tomes|five old tomes]] hidden within Mr. Kurosawa's room. According to them, a place known as the [[Hellish Abyss]] lies beneath Minakami Village, connecting our world to [[Underworld|the other]]. Once every few decades or so, [[The Darkness|darkness]] spurts forth from this "Hellish Abyss", and if action is not taken, the area surrounding the village seemingly becomes enshrouded within it. In order to ward off this darkness, a living sacrifice called the "crimson sacrifice" must be tossed into the Hellish Abyss - this rite is the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual. The elder of the [[Twin Shrine Maidens]] kills the younger, and her corpse is thrown into the Hellish Abyss... The surviving sister, known as the [[Remaining]], is confined within the [[storehouse]] to live out the rest of her days, then buried within the [[Old Tree]].

The Hellish Abyss is a wholly forbidden place that one must never see, whose name must never be uttered, that must never even be mentioned in written form. There can be no doubt about it - this is the Hell Gate I have been searching for. I have finally made it.

As I continued reading through the other books, I came to a dreadful realisation: if the sisters (or brothers) who act as the Twin Shrine Maidens in the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual feel too strongly towards one another, it is possible that the rite may fail. In such cases, it seems as though the Hellish Abyss cannot be completely shut, and the festival must be performed anew. This is not an issue if another set of Twin Shrine Maidens can be prepared swiftly, but if there happen to be no twins in the village at the time, or the Hellish Abyss grows unstable before preparations such as prayers can be completed, the writings say that a [[Outsider|visitor]] from outside of the village shall be offered as a [[Kusabi|temporary sacrifice]].

This must be why I was granted permission to participate in the festival... I should at least get Munakata out of this place while it is still possible...

Just as I had suspected, the next day I was moved to a [[Cell|confinement room]]. In stark contrast to the warm hospitality I had experienced until just a day earlier, they would not provide me with sufficient meals or bedding. Did Munakata manage to make it out of the village safely? As none but he who is selected as the "outsider" are able to participate in the festival, I believe he would most likely have been expelled even without my intervention, but still... Despite all that has befallen me, in this moment I am, in truth, terribly excited. No matter how it comes to pass, I shall finally encounter the Gate to Hell...
</poem>
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JA=
<poem>
「祭への狂気」

村へ来て数日後、逢坂家では調べものも何かと不便だろうと、黒澤氏から黒澤家の方へ宿を移すよう申し入れがあった。また黒澤氏は、私に「紅贄祭」への参加も許可してくれた。とてもありがたい話だったので、私は喜んでこれにしたがった。ただし、宗方は今は亡き友人の妹がいる立花家の方へ移ることになった。何故私だけが黒澤家へよばれたのだろうか。

翌日、黒澤氏の双子の娘、八重さんと紗重さんから、村の外への抜け道を記した地図を渡された。これを持ってすぐに村から逃げろと言う。理由を聞いたが、ふたりは何も答えずに走り去ってしまった。なんとなく自分に追っている身の危険を察知しながらも、もう少しで「黄泉の門」に迫ることができるという手応えから、私は村に留まり続けた。そして、重大な発見をしたのだ。


黒澤家の奥には、やはり隠し通路が存在した。黒澤氏の部屋で、隠すように置いてあった五冊の古い書物を偶然見つけたのだが、それによると「虚（ウツロ）」と呼ばれる場所が皆神村の地下にあり、あの世とこの世を結んでいるというのだ。その「虚」から数１０年に一度「闇」が噴き出し、放っておけば村の周辺は「闇」に覆われてしまうらしい。その「闇」を防ぐために、「紅贄」と呼ばれる生贄を「虚」に放りこむ儀式が「紅贄祭」だったのだ。「双子巫女」の姉の方が妹を殺し、その亡骸を「虚」へ・・・・・。そして生き残った姉は「鬼隻」と呼ばれ、蔵に監禁されながら寿命をまっとうしたあと朽木へ埋葬される。


「虚」とは、決して見てはいけない、その名前を口に出してはいけない、書物にすら記してはいけない、完全なる禁断の地。これこそ、私の探していた「黄泉の門」に間違いない。やっとここまで辿りついたのだ。


私はさらに書物を読み進めて、恐ろしいことに気づいた。「紅贄祭」では、「双子巫女」となった姉妹もしくは兄弟のお互いを思う心が強すぎると、失敗することがあるというのだ。その場合、「虚」を完全に閉じることができず、もう一度祭をやり直す必要があるらしい。すぐに「双子巫女」を準備できれば問題ないのだが、ちょうど村に双子がいない場合、また祈祷などの準備を済ませる前に「虚」が不安定になってしまった場合は、村の外から来た客人（マレビト）を一時的な生贄として差し出すと書かれている。


私はこのために祭への参加を許可されたのに違いない・・・・・。今のうちに宗方だけでも逃がしておいた方がいいだろう・・・・・。


案の定、次の日私は座敷牢へ移された。昨日までの手厚いもてなしとはうってかわって、食事も布団も満足に出してもらえない状態だ。宗方は無事村から外へ出ることができただろうか。「客人」として選ばれたもの以外は祭に参加できないはずだから、放っておいても彼は村から追い出されることになったとは思うのだが・・・・・。こんなことになってしまったが、実は今私はとても心が弾んでいる。どんな形にせよ、ついに「黄泉の門」と出会えるのだから・・・・・。
</poem>
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