Twenty nine days! “How long will this continue,” thought Heitaro. The haunting showed no sign of letting up.

As Heitaro sat wondering what kind of surprise the spirits had in store for him today, an ill wind began to blow into his house.

And on the strange wind, something twinkling…

Sparkles, like tiny stars, floated in on the foul wind and spread throughout every room of Heitaro’s house. They lodged themselves into every crack and crevice.

Luckily, nothing was burned.

During the twenty eighth day, Heitaro heard the distant sound of shakuhachi being played.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge group of mendicant monks appeared! They filed into Heitaro’s yard, his balcony, and every room until his whole house was filled with monks.

All day long the monks played their ear-piercing flutes. All night long too.

Poor Heitaro just lay in bed and closed his eyes…

Another sleepless night.

On day twenty seven, Heitaro sat down to work at his writing desk. Even though it was midday, darkness began to grow all around him, like rolling clouds.

Eventually, it became as dark as blackest night. Poor Heitaro couldn’t see anything at all, let alone write.

Then, all of a sudden, it became blindingly bright!

That night, mysterious noises were heard all around Heitaro’s house. Among them were the sound of wooden clappers being struck, and women’s laughter.

On night twenty six, Heitaro was once again visited by a woman’s head. In place of a neck and body, she had only a single arm.

The head flew into Heitaro’s room and glared at him. Then she bounced about on her hand like it was a pogo stick.

Heitaro tried to ignore her, but she bounced up onto him and started petting and pawing at his face and body.

It was a rough night.

On the twenty fifth day, Heitaro stepped out on the balcony overlooking his backyard.

He stepped down from the balcony to go into his garden, but when his foot landed where the stepping stone should have been, instead of a stone there was a big blue yokai instead!

Heitaro’s foot sunk into the monster’s belly, like soft mud. It was sticky, gooey, and cold.

Gross!

Heitaro wasn’t too happy about it either, but he managed to keep his cool.

On the twenty fourth day, a massive butterfly flew into the room and began fluttering around. Then, it split apart into thousands of tiny butterflies which filled the room.

Heitaro watched in awe.

In the evening, Heitaro went to light his lamp and brighten the room up. All of a sudden, FWOOSH! The lamp flared up in a huge burst of fire.

Then, the lamp transformed into a massive stone lantern. Blue and red flames licked around its sides.

Just as Heitaro began to wonder if he should do something about the fire, the lantern and its flames returned back to normal.

On day twenty three, Heitaro heard a great commotion coming from Gonpachi’s house. He went over to investigate.

All of the furniture, dishes, cups, and book were scattered about as if it was the aftermath of a big party. Oddly, though, Gonpachi was not home. Heitaro went inside to investigate.

In one area, the ceiling was sagging into the room. Heitaro poked it with his sword. The ceiling slid back up to where it should be.

That evening, a massive beehive larger than he had ever seen appeared above Heitaro’s bed.

The beehive began blowing colorful bubbles!