vague plot summary up to ch 28:

right before hikaru died in the mountains, he wished for his best friend yoshiki to not be alone. a mysterious being granted this wish by inhabiting hikaru’s dead body, thus becoming ‘hikaru’. yoshiki slowly comes to terms that his best friend is dead, while also slowly coming to accept and befriend the mysterious ‘hikaru’.

yoshiki starts coming into contact with the supernatural through extended exposure to ‘hikaru’. in response to this, they start learning about the village’s mysterious past and how the mountain villages are shaped like a person. most importantly, they learn that hikaru’s family have long been involved in rituals like sacrificing people’s heads to a being called “The Great Brainsnatcher,” a being that also became known as the “God of Curses.”

if we go all the way back to the beginning of history, the land was fated to be cursed because it contained holes that were passages to a supernatural dimension. ‘impurities’ seep through them, and it seems that the unnaturalness of these gateways cause a lot of human misfortune.

at first, they think that ‘hikaru’ is the The Great Brainsnatcher. but this is refuted by that white-haired guy who looks like a diet gojo. ‘hikaru’ can be considered an ‘impurity’ that came from the hole. before the real hikaru made a wish, ‘hikaru’ was keeping the impurities at bay with his presence. but now that he is weakened because of his growing human identity, the impurities cannot be kept at bay, thus the overflow of impure energies suddenly materializing in the sky. and also that scary ghost’s feet in ch 28. basically, yoshiki befriending ‘hikaru’ has put the entire mountain (maybe even the world??) in supernatural danger.

in order to prevent all hell from breaking lose, diet gojo has asked ‘hikaru’ to do something about the holes, since he originates from them. and that is where we find ourselves in ch 28: yoshiki, hikaru, that random old lady driving them, and the road trip to hell.

if i’m being so real though, the real plot is yoshiki coming to terms with his feelings towards his dead best friend and his new monstrous best friend. yoshiki repressing his romantic love for hikaru, hikaru loving yoshiki enough to wish for him to not be alone, and ‘hikaru’ loving yoshiki with everything he’s got. imagine ur forbidden crush liking u back but theres someone else inside his skin lollll rip yoshiki fr. and then yoshiki learned to love the monster anyways… what a sweet guy. i love him.

if missed anything important or got something wrong pls feel free to correct and comment. typing this all out made me realize that there’s actually a lot of convoluted plot lmao