What abt kikyo? Someone suicide?
I think Kikyo is related to Hosen's past that will be explained in one of future arc, just like what the translator mentioned in the notes at last page.
So... can anyone summarize what the X actually happened in this arc?
This is my take:
Even from long time ago, the villager were already terribly envious and hate those mountain folks for lots of unreasonable reasons.
One day, one of villager met Akane (The youngest and favorite boy of the mountain family) with her beautiful mom.
Well... on one unfortunate day, Akane naively told him that that day all of the mountain family men will not be at home and the villager decide to hide behind mask and came to their house to rape the beautiful mom.
Next day, when all of the mountain men arrived home, they saw a fresh rape scene right in front of their God shrine.
The beautiful mom now is crazy beyond repair, nude, and her woman blood is everywhere after gang banged all night.
The problem? God hate women and even worse women blood, especially the impure blood related to sexual activity.
Now their house shrine are tainted greatly and God is really really angry.
To express God displeasure directly, the God waited until the men arrived before snapping the shrine shimenawa and called lots of white heron (one of the symbol/servant of their God) to check what will they do now?
Thanks God, Akane's dad remember that their God actually really really love death.
So yeah... Dad decided to appease their God by doing the obvious.
In any case without God protection, there are no future for any of their family member.
While doing the deed, he pray for only one thing.
For God to protect Akane from the cruel world.
Thankfully it seems the Dad pray is granted, since Akane managed to lived healthy and safe so far, even when he was alone as child.
Meanwhile it seems God periodically take offering (No, not the food) from the villager that come nearby the mountain.
The villagers stupidly think it was curse from mountain folks.
Well fast forward, Akane meet Yae and Akane seems to wish for Yae safety.
One day because she is gone, Akane decide to go to find our protagonist to help finding her.
They came back and the villager knowing Akane still alive, they decide to exterminate mountain folks.
Well they managed to kill Akane and now there are no more mountain folks left.
Now that Akane is dead and there are no one else left that worship God, God probably decide to use God power to wipe everything that is filthy.
Only Yae, Akane corpse and our two protagonist stay untouched.
However no one but the reader and God know all of this.
Tsubaki probably know most of fact but she's not going to share it all.
Hosen and Akane know some of fact but some of it are wrong.
Yae simply doesn't remember anything since the moment she's missing.