There's a small mountain in the town where I lived, and there's a large shrine gate at the bottom of it.

At first I thought it was an entry gate, but thinking about it more, it's strange that

there's a shrine gate, nothing else.

There's no shrine, nor was there one in the past.

Apparently, it's not dedicated to the mountain itself either.

I only learnt the true meaning of it a few days before I moved away. One day, I was

returning home late from a friend's house when I took the wrong path in the dark and found myself

taking the long way around by the mountain. It was too late to turn back by the time I noticed, so I kept going.

Then, as I was just about to reach the shrine gate,

"'What's that?' I thought, thinking it was a festival or something,

but there were none on the schedule, nor was it the time of year for it.

I approached the shrine gate, curious, and saw a gathering of people in strange clothes.

But that wasn't all that was strange.

It was a gathering of people without arms and legs, and some didn't even have heads.

It was then that I realized they weren't of this world.

As I stepped back, I suddenly bumped into something.

A person stood there, nothing above the nose area, and extended a hand towards

me. I slipped past and ran at full speed all the way home. The next day, I went back to the

shrine gate and there was a gathering of priests. I didn't know what they were doing, but it looked like

some kind of ritual. I called out to the nearest one, and he told me with a look of fear

to leave right away and keep what I'd seen quiet. It wasn't as frightening as what I'd seen

the day before, but his threatening attitude scared

...