Magabanashi: Ghost Stories Spreading on Social Media - Vol. 2 Ch. 19 - Ceremony of the Corpse

[izumabakumatsu]

_

 

[izumabakumatsu]

Ah, I was thinking that since the bones were scattered, the soul had broken free and is now trying to reincarnate through Natsuko (if she and Yousuke will have a child) - that's why it's considered 'not human.' It’s interesting because there could be a lot of interpretations here and it might even be based on actual folklore - but that’s the explanation that made the most sense to me.

That makes sense. I just felt it came out of nowhere with no explanation and honestly that was giving me more uneasy vibes than if it were explained properly.

 

[kodumen]

Bittersweet story.

The family can't see the altar/body which means they're cursed. They made new guy check it to see if the curse still exists. He can't see it, so they're still cursed. Girl had to break up with him to save him. Finally, he saw the corpse, which means it's done. She truly loved him.

 

[spookmctoasty]

I wonder why Natsuko apologized at the end. "I did something terrible, didn't I..." Did she do something that exacerbated the curse, in an attempt to stay with Yousuke?

...Actually, alternatively... Maybe she wanted him to be cursed by seeing the scattered skeleton again, and thus let them be together again.

That part stuck out to me too! I wonder if Natsuko tried to rearrange the bones in an attempt to fix the curse, so she could salvage things with Yousuke... And maybe that made things worse, and caused her family to "fall into despair" instead...

 

[spookmctoasty]

On page 29 in Yousuke's dream, I think the silhouettes of people watching him and the newly arranged corpse through the screen door could be Natsuko's family members.

They are all witnessing the corpse that wasn't supposed to be seen, thus joining the same side as the first person who watched the suicide and was mutilated and cursed from long ago - the whole family has been condemned the same way now.

 

[Yuyu_yusha]

What the hell did i just read?! I thought it's gonna be another daily life horror light story and not some Fatal Frame shit.

 

[Mekanike]

I wonder why Natsuko apologized at the end. "I did something terrible, didn't I..." Did she do something that exacerbated the curse, in an attempt to stay with Yousuke?

...Actually, alternatively... Maybe she wanted him to be cursed by seeing the scattered skeleton again, and thus let them be together again.

I think her apologizing at the end isnt about the curse but more so how she fixed it. The curse obviously hit everyone in the family and him seeing the body neat at the end signaled he was free from the curse but to do it she had to completely disappear from his life without any explanation because if she explained its possible he'd be in consideration for the curse to affect him like the servant was despite not being related to the family.

And they seemed to be in a pretty loving relationship with the girlfriend talking about marriage and kids with the boyfriend. The Boyfriend is just never gonna get closure about this and its pretty clear its been affecting him pretty bad already. Its a terrible thing to do to somebody but it had to be done to keep him safe. Side note i think it was a pretty clever way for the author to preserve the mystery of the curse since we only have the info the boyfriend got, like if we knew we could possibly be in consideration for the curse too

 

[zawarudo]

The tidbit about Natsuko's child potentially not being human is important. I think it is possible the entire clan is cursed/blessed with some form of immortality such as the ability for constant reincarnation to new bodies, hence the requirement to kill themselves once they felt they have gotten enough out of life. Perhaps they are assisted by a mountain god in this process, but no witnesses are allowed to see this sacred ritual or the witness and his descendants will be given another curse: they can randomly be reborn as chunks of flesh like the OG rulebreaker, who himself is still around, unable to die (hence all the moans in the basement) and thus unable to reincarnate to a new body - he can only get stitched back together to then get turned into burgers again. It is even possible that every few births in the family will result in a burger baby who hosts a part of the ancestor's soul and thus also has to be kept in the basement. However as long as they keep appeasing the OG Suicide Man, the mountain god will give them prosperity.

Notice as well that when Sekiguchi was giving one final phone call to You, it is subtly implied that the family's mansion is destroying itself. This might tie in with how Sekiguchi who isn't even blood related also gets ruined/killed. Since the family's wealth is dependent on the mountain god's approval and is most likely magical in nature, he can also take everything away including buildings and people who aren't even family members when he gets pissed off enough at the family. Natsuki might have been chased around by the Suicide Man because she wasn't living in the village. Typing that also made me think that whatever the conditions of appeasement are laid down by the god, one of the most important is that the villagers are not allowed to leave the region. This might also be related to why only outsiders can objectively look at the Ancestor's current condition.