Master of Kaidan
Chapter 284: Do Female High School Students Dream of Zashiki Warashi?

Chapter 284: Chapter 284: Do Female High School Students Dream of Zashiki Warashi?

At the entrance to the school, there was a long queue formed outside a popular breakfast spot, consisting of students and office workers. People from the Eastern Country... or perhaps most humans have this problem—if there’s a line, the more people there are, the more likely they are to join it.

Thankfully, the line was moving quickly. After roughly estimating the number of people, Rinko pulled Yayuka along and went over, while returning to the previous conversation:

"Speaking of which, why have you suddenly become interested in Kaidan? Didn’t you say you wanted to steer clear of those topics?"

"I, I’ve just come around! Superstition is superstition, and being overly fanciful is just that, they shouldn’t be confused!" Yayuka stubbornly insisted, then added in a quieter voice:

"After all, Kaidan really do exist, so believing in them can’t be considered being overly fanciful, right?"

"Exactly, you should have thought that way earlier!" Rinko felt satisfied upon seeing her best friend picking up on the interests normal people should have and nodded with a smile, saying:

"Well then, ask away. I may not look it, but I’m a walking encyclopedia on Kaidan, you know!"

"About that thing you guys were talking about yesterday." Yayuka was thinking of asking about the dream she had the night before but felt being too straightforward might worry her friend, so she followed up with the previous excuse instead.

"The Night Parade of Hundred Demons on New Year’s?" Rinko thought back to the Kaidan she had been talking about yesterday and, realizing she had discussed quite a few, chose the most shocking to ask about.

"Yes, that’s the one!" Yayuka nodded vigorously, and Rinko began to speak openly:

"You know about the last month of the year and the Bean Throwing Festival, don’t you?"

"Don’t treat me like a fool! I’m a born and bred Eastern Country person; how could I not know!" Yayuka glared at Rinko, who just grinned and said:

"The last month of the year grants ordinary people the power to expel demons, while the Bean Throwing Festival is a ritual to use beans to drive away demons and ghosts. So generally, during this period after New Year’s, things like Kaidan and other demons would temporarily hide away. But this year, ever since New Year’s, there have been sightings of Kaidan in Chiba. Some say they even saw a large group of Kaidan patrolling the streets, as if they were looking for someone."

"Looking for someone?!" Yayuka originally just wanted to start a conversation but found herself "involuntarily" drawn in, asking without realizing it.

"Don’t know, but a lot of people in the club speculate that they might be searching for the Masked Rider." Rinko lowered her voice as if to create an atmosphere on purpose while saying this.

"Related to the Masked Rider?" Yayuka’s eyes widened. Even though the national special effects drama had been ordered off-air since last year, the Masked Riders appearing in reality were still leading the conversation.

"Yeah! Everyone suspects that the Masked Rider’s base might actually be in Chiba, so that’s why Kaidan have been going house to house searching there! There’s no reason for the Night Parade of Hundred Demons to appear, but even though it’s called that, I haven’t seen any Kaidan these past few days. Have you seen any Kaidan, little Yayuka?" Rinko seemed quite concerned about not having encountered real Kaidan. Upon hearing this, Yayuka also shook her head:

"Definitely not in reality, but I have in dreams. That said, do Kaidan enter dreams?"

"There you go, asking the right questions!" Yayuka thought to herself about her cleverness as the words seemed casual but had been tough to articulate. She eagerly awaited Rinko’s reply.

"In dreams, huh? There are some that do." Rinko touched her chin thoughtfully, but just as Yayuka anticipated a response, Rinko turned around, pulled out a few Nakamura Shosetsu notes, and said:

"I’ll have two limited-edition cream puffs, one of the five-colored sweets, um, and two custard buns..."

"Rinko-chan!" Yayuka complained, but then a rumble from her stomach made her reach for her wallet, knowing full well that whatever Rinko had ordered, it was all for her to eat!

"I want one cream puff and one custard bun."

...

A few minutes later, Yayuka and Rinko arrived in class and sat near the window, nibbling on cream puffs.

The big-mouthed Rinko seemed quite satisfied with the limited edition flavor of the cream puff, devouring it in a few bites; yet, she soon noticed a weird expression on Yayuka’s face and immediately asked,

"Yayuka, what’s wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Yayuka shook her head, her mind burdened by the confusion of the unfamiliar coins that had appeared in her wallet when she’d paid earlier.

She suppressed her complex thoughts and managed to say,

"We were talking about those dream Kaidan just now."

"Ah, right!" Rinko, nonchalantly licking off the cream from the corner of her mouth, suddenly exclaimed,

"Speaking of which, there are quite a few Kaidan related to dreams. The more traditional ones include the ’Dream Eating Tapir’ that feeds on dreams, and the Western-style ’Dream Demon’ that goes ’hee-hee-hee’ in dreams. There’s also the ’Dream Entrance’ that curses you in dreams and the ’Black Monk’ that stealthily sucks away your essence qi while you sleep. But if we’re talking about influences on dreams, it would have to be the ’Pillow Flipper.’"

Yayuka was initially preoccupied with those coins, but couldn’t help shifting her attention back to the topic when she heard words like "sucking essence qi."

"Pillow Flipper, that’s pretty traditional Kaidan too. It’s said to be a type of small ghost that, when people fall asleep, takes their pillow, flips it, or puts it at the feet, or even flips the sleeper altogether. By doing so, it induces nightmares and feeds off the negative emotions of pain, distress, and sorrow from the dreamer—a kind of harmless yet annoying demon. Some places consider it a small prank by the Zashiki-warashi, but there are also murderous legends about it causing children to become stuck in illusions and never wake up."

As Rinko recounted the knowledge about the Pillow Flipper demon, she added,

"If you get down to it, this Kaidan is really just an excuse people with poor sleeping habits use to blame ghosts for their troubles. Of course, some storytellers at the Midsummer Night Festivals keep sharing Pillow Flipper stories, so who knows—there might actually be some around now."

"Do Pillow Flippers leave any evidence behind? Like bringing something out of a dream?" Yayuka, thinking of those coins in her wallet, tentatively sniffed around, but Rinko shook her head and said,

"As if there’s such good luck! Well, maybe not... I’ve decided! At this year’s Midsummer Night Festival, can I submit such a Kaidan story? I wonder if it would show gratitude? Letting me have a beautiful dream and then bring back all sorts of delicious food... slurp..."

"..." Watching her friend sink into delusions, Yayuka opened her wallet and looked at the coins inside, each seemingly worth twenty million yen, and sighed helplessly saying,

"What about money then? Any demons related to money? The kind that gives money?"

"Eh, Yayuka, you’re actually worried about money?" Rinko looked surprised at her friend and thought for a moment before saying,

"There are quite a few that steal money, but those that give... there’s only the ’Iron Rat,’ who’s considered a treasure in the house. It lets you beat people up, and based on how strong the person you beat is, it gives you money. There’s also the Golden Spirit and Zashiki-warashi that can bring good fortune."

"Zashiki-warashi? Didn’t you say the Pillow Flipper was also considered a Zashiki-warashi’s prank... So there’s a Zashiki-warashi in my house?"

"..."

"Eh, Rinko, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"It sounded like someone cursed me!"