W.

Nestled deep within the mountains of rural Japan, far from busy cities and crowded roads, lies the peaceful village of Mizukage, a place where time seems to stand still. Surrounded by emerald forests, mist-covered hills, sparkling rivers, and endless rice fields that shimmer beneath the warm morning sun, the village is breathtakingly beautiful. Traditional wooden houses with tiled roofs line quiet stone paths, colorful flowers bloom outside every home, and the gentle sound of birdsong, cicadas, and flowing streams fills the fresh countryside air. Farmers wave as they tend their fields, children laugh while catching dragonflies, and the sweet scent of green tea and blooming cherry blossoms drifts through the streets, making Mizukage seem like the perfect place to spend the summer. Thirteen-year-old twin sisters, Koharu and Konatsu, arrive to stay with their grandmother, immediately falling in love with the village’s peaceful charm. They spend their days wandering through bamboo groves, crossing old wooden bridges, and exploring hidden shrines tucked away beneath towering cedar trees. Yet beneath Mizukage’s beauty lies an unsettling secret that every villager knows but rarely speaks of aloud. As evening approaches, smiles fade, conversations become hushed, and doors begin closing long before midnight. The golden sunlight disappears behind the mountains, the forests grow unnaturally still, thick fog rolls across the fields, and the cheerful sounds of nature vanish, replaced by an eerie silence that seems to swallow the entire village. Every window is locked, every lantern is extinguished, and by midnight not a single soul dares remain awake or outside. Each night, the village elder, Mrs. Watanabe, walks the empty streets carrying an old lantern, reminding everyone of the rules that have protected the village for generations: be inside before midnight, stay asleep until sunrise, keep every window and door locked, and never answer if someone calls your name in the darkness. No one knows exactly how the curse began, but the villagers believe those who break the rules are taken by the evil spirits said to haunt the surrounding forest. On their first night, as rain softly falls outside, Koharu and Konatsu sit beside the crackling fireplace while their grandmother quietly tells them the village’s most terrifying legend—the tale of Hachishakusama, the mysterious Eight-Foot-Tall Woman, whose eerie “Po… Po… Po…” is said to drift through the night whenever she is searching for her next victim. The twins laugh nervously, convinced it is only an old ghost story, never imagining that before dawn they may hear the haunting sound for themselves.