Japan was facing one of the greatest demographic crises in its modern history.
For years, the number of births had continued to fall far below the number of deaths, while high life expectancy caused the proportion of elderly citizens to increasingly dominate the social pyramid.
Each year, the country's population steadily shrank by hundreds of thousands of souls.
Major cities like Tokyo admittedly still appeared busy because they were the primary destinations for population migration, but behind the metropolitan glitz, the rural areas were gradually losing all signs of life.
The younger generation flocked away from their hometowns in droves to pursue education and employment, ultimately choosing to settle down in the cities. They rarely returned, even after their parents had passed away.
As a consequence, villages that were once inhabited by hundreds of families turned into silent settlements that left behind only a few elderly individuals at the end of their lives.
The sound of children's laughter vanished from the streets, elementary schools were closed because they no longer had students, and empty houses stood lined up without occupants. Some were left to decay, weathered by rain and snow, while others were slowly swallowed by thick brush until it was virtually unnoticeable that the structure had once been someone's home.
This phenomenon was not occurring in just one or two villages. Thousands of settlements across various regions outside Japan experienced a similar fate.
In many areas, local governments even offered empty houses at incredibly cheap prices, or even for free, for the sake of attracting new residents. However, still only a few people were willing to settle in regions where employment opportunities were increasingly limited and public facilities continued to diminish.
One of the most famous examples of this dead village phenomenon was Nagoro, a remote settlement in the mountainous region of Miyoshi, on Shikoku Island.
A place that is currently better known as the "Doll Village" because the number of straw dolls there was far greater than the remaining living humans.
Inside one of the traditional houses in that silent village, the morning sunlight broke through the gaps of the shoji sliding doors.
"Charlie-kun. Wake up quickly, I have already made breakfast."
A soft, highly familiar voice chimed near Charlie's ear.
Mahiru appeared to be crouching beside the futon mattress where Charlie was still sleeping comfortably beneath his warm blanket.
"Mhm... I won't wake up unless you kiss me." Charlie murmured in a raspy voice, intentionally closing his eyes again to tease the girl.
*PECK!*
"Satisfied yet?"
Mahiru leaned her body over and kissed Charlie's cheek without feeling even a bit embarrassed.
After all, the two of them had already performed countless indecent things that were far more outrageous and vulgar atop the bed. Those intimate experiences had automatically caused Mahiru's embarrassment tolerance level to increase drastically when it came to a mere morning peck.
However, Charlie did not let her off that easily. He opened one eye, then tapped his own lips with the tip of his finger.
"Just on the cheek? I want it on the mouth~"
Mahiru let out a soft huff while folding both of her arms in front of her chest.
"You haven't even brushed your teeth yet, Charlie-kun. Stop wasting time being spoiled, or the breakfast will end up getting cold."
"Alright, my wife~"
Under the small reprimand from Mahiru, Charlie finally stood up reluctantly.
His sleepwear—the loose nemaki he was wearing—slid slightly down his shoulder, exposing his smooth white skin that nonetheless exuded a masculine impression.
While Charlie was standing, performing light stretches to banish the remaining trace of his drowsiness, Mahiru deftly and immediately tidied the sheets, rolled up the thick futon mattress, and then stored it neatly inside the traditional wall closet (oshiire).
After everything was clean and arranged, the two of them stepped out, leaving the bedroom behind to head toward the small dining room in the central part of the house.
In fact, a whole week had already passed since Charlie and Mahiru decided to move and settle down in this remote village of Nagoro.
This step was intentionally taken to fulfill Mahiru's desire to isolate herself completely from modern society and prevent further loss of human life.
And sure enough, within that one-week duration, their lives proceeded very quietly and were filled with peace without a single disturbance.
It seemed that with Nagoro's geographical position being deep within the mist-shrouded mountains, the Abyssal Devourer experienced difficulty sending manipulated emissaries to disrupt their tranquility.
As a result, the focus of the Abyssal Devourer's terror at present was fully shifted to target the protagonist left behind in the city.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
The aroma of the warm miso soup and grilled mackerel that Mahiru had prepared still left a comfortable taste on Charlie's tongue as the two of them stepped outside their traditional wooden house.
The morning air in Nagoro felt incredibly biting, contrasting with the warmth they had shared inside the room earlier.
A thin mist still hung in the intervals between the banana trees and the Miyoshi mountains, giving the impression that this village was completely cut off from the rest of the outside world.
Charlie wore a loose haori over his casual clothes, while Mahiru walked beside him with a cream-colored knitted coat wrapping her petite body.
Their footsteps sounded rhythmic on the asphalt road that was beginning to crack and was overgrown with wild grass along its edges.
All along the path they traversed, the view that greeted them was a silence that was both magical and melancholic.
"It really is quiet, isn't it, Charlie-kun." Mahiru spoke, breaking the silence, her voice soft, almost like a whisper so as not to ruin the surrounding tranquility of nature. Both of her hands were buried inside her coat pockets. "If we were in the city, at this hour we would definitely already hear the sound of car horns or the footsteps of people rushing off to the station."
Charlie turned his head, gazing at the side of Mahiru's face which appeared serene.
"But isn't this what you wanted, Mahiru? To isolate yourself from all that noise. Here, there are no watching eyes, no societal expectations, and most importantly..." He smiled faintly, "...No Abyssal Devourer causing trouble."
Mahiru halted her steps for a moment, staring at a wooden house by the side of the road.
The house was already tilted, its windows broken, and its roof had mostly collapsed, covered by thick climbing vines.
On the weathered porch of the house sat two human-sized figures wearing hand-knitted winter clothes.
Their faces were made of white cloth with black marker strokes forming a pair of round eyes and a stiff smile. They were the straw dolls that made up the majority of the residents in this village.
"Yes, you're right." Mahiru shifted to look at the dolls with a heavy gaze. "At first, I thought this place would feel creepy because it's filled with dolls replacing dead people or those who left. But after a week here... they actually feel like friendly neighbors."
"They don't judge us, they don't ask for anything, they are just... there, guarding the memory that this place was once alive."
Charlie stepped closer, then casually wrapped his arm around Mahiru's shoulder, pulling the girl closer to his body.
Mahiru started slightly, her cheeks flushing red remembering that they were outdoors, yet she did not reject the warmth Charlie offered.
"They are indeed good guardians." Charlie said while looking at a straw doll placed as if it were fishing at the edge of the small river below their path.
They resumed their casual walk, following the bends of the road that seemed endless.
Throughout the journey, they only crossed paths with the morning wind shaking the leaves.
No cars passed by.
No people said hello.
There were only small, abandoned fields, with straw dolls posing as if they were tilling the soil or chatting in groups beneath the trees.
"Charlie-kun." Mahiru called out suddenly, her tone sounding slightly more serious yet remaining relaxed.
"Mhm? What's the matter?"
"Do you not feel guilty?" Mahiru looked up, staring directly into Charlie's eyes. "We are here living so peacefully, eating delicious food, taking walks like this, and... doing those indecent things every night... while out there, Fujimiya-kun and your companion might be fighting desperately to hold off the emissaries of the Abyssal Devourer. The enemy completely shifted targets to them because we vanished."
Charlie let out a small laugh, the sound of his laughter crisp in the midst of the village silence. He ruffled Mahiru's hair endearingly using his other free hand.
"Why should we feel guilty? That is Elena's job, Mahiru."
Charlie stopped his steps right in front of a building that used to be the village elementary school.
Its door was locked tight, and its nameplate had faded, weathered by age. In the schoolyard, there were several children dolls placed on top of the swings and a slide that had already rusted, frozen in a perpetual pose of playing.
"And most importantly." Charlie turned Mahiru's body so she was facing him fully. He held both of Mahiru's cheeks, which felt cold from the morning wind, forcing the girl to look at him. "My primary focus from the very beginning has been ensuring that you remain safe, smiling, and happy."
"If isolating ourselves in this village is the price to be paid for your peace, then I will gladly build our own kingdom here together with these dolls."
Mahiru's face flushed red upon hearing those blunt words full of affection. She rested her forehead against Charlie's broad chest, hiding her blossoming smile.
"You always manage to find an excuse to justify that lazy nature of yours, Charlie-kun."
Her hands now moved to encircle Charlie's waist, hugging him tightly in front of the quiet schoolyard.
"This isn't being selfish, this is called priority." Charlie replied with a smirk, kissing the top of Mahiru's head, which smelled of a soothing lily shampoo.
They stood in that position for several minutes, enjoying the beat of each other's hearts, which became the only sign of real life in the midst of the hundreds of Nagoro straw dolls.
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