Disclaimer - It is my first e-book. So, please co-operate if there are spelling and grammatical mistakes. I hope, you will understand...

Also, things mentioned in this episode are fictional. So, don't connect them with the world called as real.

Enjoy the episode...

30/12/1999 

2:00 am

A lady in her 20s stepped outside the train, surprised to see that she was the only one to step onto this station. Though it would be funny to consider it a station, she went outside the station through the exit gate, which was dull and black, while talking to herself, “Granny and Imoto ( sister ) will be pleased to see me, but... I feel...Uhh it’s just the headache.” She checked her phone but found out that there was no source to make a call, which was not surprising for her as this place was surrounded by forest and deep forest and also it was midnight. So she headed towards the village, which was around 300 hundred meters away from the station. She was walking and walking; her footsteps were echoing all over. All was pitch black, and one could see only her cell phone's flash light, but suddenly, she saw a ray of light coming her way as if someone were carrying a big torch. When she saw the face of the person, she said, surprisingly, “You!? Glad to see you. I didn’t expect to see you here. What are you having there? On a hunt or something,” she giggled. 

And suddenly, a scream from the lady took off the forest from the dead silence.

The devil lurks presents THE GATE OF HELL AND HER

CHAPTER 1: A VILLAGE WITH NO NAME

3 months ago... 

October, 1999

The streets of Tokyo were filled with lights and people all over. Book stores were a place where you could not even take a single breath, as they were crowded with students asking for the new additions of Vagabond, Michelle, Suzanne, Lily to Paris, your last breath, the devil spoiler, The Machine Man, and what not. DVD stores were also a heavy competitor and were popular among college students who were eagerly waiting for the cassette of the new movie of Harogasu Shiyo. Girls were getting mad at Shinoyo's half-naked performance, who was later highlighted as a national crush. Coffee shops and movie theaters were surrounded by young couples. Street food shops were a savior for struggling students who were living all alone. Karaoke were the mini bars for the mini minors.

In this chaos, hardly any importance was given to studies, as it was the perfect life, but not for everyone. In this huge place, there was a person who used to feel lonely. A person who used to feel alone in a crowded metro station, but this was not a curse for her; it was a blessing. A teenage girl who used to study in Tokyo's one of the top-ranked senior high schools with distinguished looks but an undistinguished identity, as she identified herself as a person who likes to be lonely, a 16 Year-old girl named Dai. 

She was a person who had taste in traditional Japanese art. A quiet person for whom it hardly matters what others think. She used to live with her father, Mr. Chiro. She also had an elder sister, Nisagi, who was studying and doing an internship in Nagano district. Dai was often visited by her aunt( her mother's twin sister) who was identical to her mother as her mother and her aunt were twins. Dai's mother passed away after some weeks, she delivered dai. Dai was considered a bad omen by some relatives, but her close family never looked at her from this side and took her as a blessing. 

Since her childhood, she had shared no friends, maybe due to her extra lonely nature, but oppositely, Nisagi was a hot topic in her time. Despite the differences, the two sisters shared an inexpressible bond. Despite not having a good social circle, dai was happy with her life. Everything was not so good, but not so bad either.

But one evening, when she returned home, she saw her father packing her bag. She surprisingly asked her father, “Father, why are you packing my bag?” To which he replied in ignorance. Then, in force, she said, “Father!!” To which he said, “You are going to the village on sunday. I will drop you off at the station. I have enrolled you in a local senior high school. And tomorrow we ll both go to your school to check for Tc. I have enrolled for that.” She said, “But why? What did I do? For this only, did you visited the village last week? Father!” To which he replied, “So what? What I will say, you will need to do it. There is no other option, and try to make close relations with your maternal grandmother so that she can give you a piece of her property on behalf of your mother.” She surprisingly said, “Huh!? So you are using me as a bait. Father, there is no facility for me. I don’t want..." He interrupted her words and said, “Pack all the essentials you need.” Then, he gave her a file regarding her school and went outside the house. She was very sad, and she started crying badly. After shredding tons of water, she stopped and said to herself, “It would be great if I will be away from toxicity.” 

Next morning, as promised, Mr. Chiro headed her to a small station in Tokyo, where her journey was all alone. At around evening, she finally reached 'Mumei no village' (no name village). The weirdest thing she witnessed was that it was so hot there. I mean, it was the season of icy flakes all over, but it was looking as this place is left near a hot pan. 'Mumei no' village was like other villages only, standing with dense forest in its south and local routes in the west and north that opened to different villages. She was not surprised to see that no one came to pick her up from the station. Anyway, she headed towards the village and was surprised to see a different feel than in big cities.

The forest near the village was so beautiful, as it was made by nature only. Butterflies, houseflies, and bugs were flying over in search of nectar. The birds were singing their harmonious melody. Soon, she could be able to see small kids playing and making themselves dirty. She saw ladies gossiping about another lady outside their houses. She also saw two old men walking and singing one of the songs of the great Akina Takamori. She thought that she had entered somewhere else, far from the crowds in cities. While watching such things, she finally reached her destination. She entered her maternal house and saw her grandmother in the yard. She surprised her, and Grandmother was so happy to see her. She made her a delicious comforting meal and they spent a great time together. It was heartwarming moment for dai to remember.

After the dinner, she stood her head on Granny's lap and was trying to feel the touch of her mom. Granny said, “My dear, I was so lonely. But now you are here. You always give me your mother's touch. It’s so rare that we have been together.” To which dai said, “Hmmm.” Granny said, "Tomorrow, the school where you are enrolled is opening. I have called my neighbor, Moto, and she will go with you. Did Chiro inform you?” dai said, “Hmm!” 

After some gossips with grandmother, she went into her room and tried to sleep on the bed, but her thoughts asked her not to. The day before she was going to come to the village, she went to a local public computer shop, where she searched for her school. Not so surprisingly, she found no trace of her school except an article about her school. This article describes an incident that happened in her new school on March 26, 1976, when a home teacher of class 11th c who committed suicide from the building of the school. Anyway, she switched off the bulb and slept. 

The next day, she woke up early in the morning and got ready to go to school to do some formalities. As her grandmother said, she went with their neighbor Moto, who was in her middle of the 20s. She used to work at a local store and was soon going to Tokyo for higher studies. They came at the entrance of the school, named Tengoku Senior Secondary High School, which was looking silent from outside as it was an off day for students, so there was not a lot of crowd. A strange thing was there: dai could smell something like a strong fragrance, but it was hard to identify what it was. They waited for a while at the reception and then got a formality charge from the receptionist, but the things asked in the charge were weird. Usually, schools ask for birth date, age, past school, etc., but in this case, it asked for birth symbol, blood symbol, the astronomical day on her birth date, demon configuration, urine ph etc. Anyway, she filled it up and handed it to the receptionist. 

After that, they reached home and had lunch. Just boring and boring, her day passed.  

After 2 days... 

They got a message from the school that dai had been selected and got a scholarship too, but dai was an average child and also didn’t give any tests there. Anyway, who will miss a golden chance for free? So on that day only, she went again with Moto to purchase the school clothes, and books were there with her as she enrolled in the middle of the session.

The next day, she woke up and got ready.

For her new journey, which was going

to take a dangerous road...

When she reached at the gate of Tengoku high school. She saw everyone staring at her which can be the biggest nightmare of a person who don't like to be around people.

She tried to ignore and went straight inside the school. The school's garden was filled with only one type of flower, chrysanthemums which represents death. Anyway, she entered the school and a lady poured some kind of water on her and said, "may you are not the one". The thing which was weird that the ceiling of the school was wet with some of slimy thing but there was no intentions of rain. Also, she saw paintings and sculptures of some symbols infact, in some real animals heads were used. A teacher in between handed her a tie card which was red in colour and asked her to tie it. She entered in her class where she was introduced by her home teacher, madam asuki who also was in her 20s. Then, dai herself introduced and said, "Good morning. Me, young dai. I... I am your new classmate and I hope, I can make a good bond. Th...thank. you..." With that said, she quickly grabbed her seat. The thing she noticed in the class that most of the students were having blue tie card, some yellow tie card and very few, red tie cards. Anyway, When the school was over, a girl came near dai who looked totally opposite to her. Her name was nina. She was a type of person who can be open to someone easily. Nina made the first move and said, "Hi! My name is nina. Nice to meet you." Dai said, "Hmm."

Nina said, "If I m right. You are the Tokyo girl? Hmm?"

To which dai nodded her head in yes.

Nina again said, "so, How is the atmosphere there? I think its like a dream land. Its an amazing place. Right? My paternal uncle lives but I never met him. Can you tell about their books. I know there would be a lot of books but here we carry only few in the library. Wanna watch it out?"

To which dai said, "uhh. I ll need to go home early. So next time!"

To which nina was going to answer something but nina interrupted her and said, "see you soon." And muttered "not again."

When she was going towards her home, Miss asuki called her from back and said, "I forgot you to give this manual of rules. Read it carefully and follow the instructions wisely." This manual was also in red colour. Anyway, dai replied, "hmm". When dai was going to turn, Miss asuki noticed a locket in dai s neck of cross. She quickly grabbed it and said angrily, "religional things are not allowed in the school unless the real. So take it off before you come to school." Dai defended herself and said, "but that's my..." But she stopped in between and said, "ok" and headed towards her home.

She reached home and helped grandmother with the house chores. After that, they had dinner and were going to sleep but dai said, "Grandmother, I m bored. Can you share a story with me?" After insisting her, she finally said, "Ok. But my memory is too short so cope up with that."

To which dai smiled.

Grandmother began with her story, " A fairy used to live..."

Dai interrupted her words and said, "Uhh! No, I don't want to listen fairy stories. Something horror. Please!"

Grandmother said, "You are having a lot tantrums. Hmm... Let me see.. hmm...Ok! A couple once came from another village with thier twins:- a boy and a girl.

They used to sell meat soup which was very delicious. Fortunately, I cannot be able to taste as I can't chew meat properly. Anyway, their soup was popular among children. People used to come from different villages just to taste the soup. It was a secret recipe which they shared with none.

It was all fine but suddenly after one to two months of their arrival, Many children started vanishing. Don't know where. People started making rumours that this couple use children s meat to make their soup. I... Oh! I am sorry.

One day, the villagers decided to sneak in their home and see whether the rumours were correct or not. The couple was not there and the children were gone to the school. They saw everywhere except an almirah which was locked. When they opened it, they saw a shelf with so many shoes and socks of children. Through this, they concluded that this couple is the one who kidnapped children and probably used their meat in their soup.

When the lady came at the home, she saw the big pot of soup boiling in the yard. Everything was looking normal to her. She thought to once taste the soup and when she opened the lid of the hot pot.

She screamed out loud..

To be continued...

Dear listener, good to see you reading my works. The next episode will come on next Sunday. Stay tuned with us and keep sharing your love with us. The author of THE GATE OF HELL AND HER thanks you for reading my writings.