Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni (彼岸花の咲く夜に), subtitled The Unforgiving Flowers Blossom in the Dead of Night, is a Japanese horror manga written by Ryukishi07 and illustrated by Ichirō Tsunohazu. The manga debuted May 2010 and was later adapted into a visual novel released August 13, 2011.

Characters

 * Marie Moriya (森谷 毬枝)
 * Marie is the main protagonist of the first story, Mesomeso-san, and is a recurring character thereafter. She is introduced as a student who is constantly bullied by her classmates and molested by her homeroom teacher at an abandoned school building neighboring her school. While despairing over her predicament in the public toilet of the building, she becomes the subject of an eighth urban legend involving a yōkai named Mesomeso (derived from the Japanese onomatopoeia for weeping and sobbing) that haunts the toilet. The school's yōkai offer her the chance to become a yōkai in order to fill the new rank in their hierarchy, which she does after being strangled to death by her teacher. As Mesomeso, she appears before the series's other protagonists to support them if they are victims of bullying, or to confront them if they themselves are bullies.


 * Higanbana (彼岸花)
 * Higanbana is the third-highest ranking yōkai in the school, also known as the "Dancing Higanbana". She is a girl who takes the form of a Western doll that sits in the school infirmary and, according to her associated legend, dances on its own at night. She is the yōkai who directly offers Marie to become Mesomeso, and treats her as her personal assistant. She regularly torments cruel or weak-willed students, and is depicted as either an antagonist if she targets a story's hero, or as an antihero if she targets a villain.

Plot
Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni takes place in an unnamed school setting and is composed of numerous self-contained short stories, each told from the perspective of a student or staff member from the school. These stories feature bullying as a major overlying theme, as each story's protagonist is depicted as being either a victim of bullying or a bully themselves. Higanbana revolves around a series of urban legends caused by supernatural beings called yōkai, each of which claims ownership of a particular "mystery" and kills anyone who tries to investigate it. There are a total of seven "mysteries" at the start of the series, with numerous yōkai fighting each other in an ongoing turf war for ownership of these mysteries, which is granted to the seven yōkai who emerge victorious in the conflict. The stories' protagonists interact with at least one of the school's resident yōkai, who force the protagonists to deal with the consequences of their actions regarding bullying.

Mesomeso-san
"Mesomeso-san" follows Marie Moriya and Yoshihito Kanamori. Moriya, a submissive and weak student, is often bullied and falls under the protection of Kanamori, her teacher who uses his status to exploit Moriya. Kanamori frequently uses Moriya to fulfill sexual desires by taking advantage of Moriya's inability to say "no" to others. As their relationship comes to an end, Moriya learns that her cries have become associated with the legend of a youkai; Mesomeso. She encounters a youkai known as Higanbana and desires to become a youkai through death. Moriya briefly considers suicide before eventually being murdered by Kanamori. As Kanamori kills Moriya, he himself claims the title of Mesomeso, throwing the title into contention. Later, Kanamori confronts the spirit of Moriya in the same bathroom he killed her in, which disqualifies him from being Mesomeso. As a result, the legend of Mesomeso comes true and Kanamori is torn apart by having every bone in his body broken. Moriya then ascends to become a youkai known as Mesomeso.

The Spirit Camera
"The Spirit Camera" follows Takeshi Nonomiya, a photographer who stumbles upon a supernatural camera. As a young student, Takeshi was falsely accused of breaking a human anatomy dummy, leading him to become obsessed with the ability to prove the truth, leading to his interest in photography. One day, Takeshi finds an old instant film camera in the Newspaper Club Room. Takeshi uses the camera to take a class picture with all of his classmates. The class picture takes significantly longer to develop than other pictures Takeshi had taken with the camera. After the photo develops, Takeshi sees a girl in the photo that he doesn't recognize. The youkai Higanbana appears before Takeshi and leads him to the truth that the girl he cannot remember is Marie Moriya, a frequently bullied girl who recently died. All memory of Marie seems to have disappeared as Takeshi couldn't find Marie's picture in a field trip guidebook and doesn't remember her being in his class. Takeshi learns that showing the class picture with Marie in it causes people to remember her when he tracks down Marie's mother, who also had forgotten Marie existed. On his way home, Takeshi is caught up in a battle between Higanbana and a youkai known as the Headmaster, who is responsible for erasing Marie Moriya from existence. With Higanbana's help, Takeshi escapes back to his house. Higanbana asks Takeshi to show her his photo albums, which Takeshi begrudgingly obliges to. Higanbana reveals to Takeshi that a series of blurred photos that Takeshi never thought much of are a result of the Headmaster erasing someone from existence; specifically the very person who had falsely accused Takeshi in the past. Takeshi painfully remembers that he had begun to stalk the girl who accused him in an attempt to catch her doing something wrong and passing the blame off as she had done to him. However, the girl became aware of his stalking and began to break down, eventually leading to her suicide. Higanbana brings that girl, Yoko Numata, back to the human world and offers her a chance to kill Takeshi in revenge. However, Yoko and Takeshi instead make amends for their pasts, allowing Takeshi to live on and for Yoko to be redeemed from the hell she had been existing in.

The Princess' Lie
"The Princess' Lie" follows "Princess" Midori Kusunoki, a wealthy and popular girl who pursues the lead role of "witch" in the school play "Rokkenjima". Midori had previously been the victim of severe bullying until she made a deal with a youkai known as a the Black Tea Gentleman, in which she would receive whatever acting part she desired in exchange for a part of her soul. Midori opted for the lead role of "princess" in a school play, which she excelled at, thus garnering popularity among her classmates. The only classmate who didn't like Midori was a girl named Nozomi Kawada, another wealthy girl who had previously been known as the "princess" of the class. When Midori took the title of "princess", Nozomi became the victim of intense bullying from her classmates. Later on, Midori begins to experience random sharp pains while practicing for her role as "witch", Midori comes to believe that it is the work of a curse Nozomi had placed on her. When she asks the Black Tea Gentleman about her pains, he simply says to ignore them. Another youkai, Marie Moriya, believes that the Black Tea Gentleman himself was inflicting the pains on Midori and attempts to free Midori from his influence. She briefly succeeds and Midori, now free from the Black Tea Gentleman, realizes a painful truth: the role she opted for when she made the deal with the Black Tea Gentleman was not the role of "princess" in a play but the role of "Nozomi Kawada" in real life. In actuality, Nozomi was the popular star of the school play while Midori was a hateful victim of bullying. The Black Tea Gentleman regains influence over Midori and reveals that his abilities allow humans to believe lies. Under his influence, Midori believes the lie that she is the popular "princess" instead of Nozomi and fails to realize that the random pains she experiences are from her classmates hitting her and bullying her.

Shrine of the Guardian Deity
"Shrine of the Guardian Deity" follows Michiru Sakurada, an unpopular girl with a "sixth sense" allowing her to perceive the spirit world. One day, Michiru feels a strong burst of emotion emanating from a shrine behind the school. Michiru deduces that the emotion she felt was due to the fact that a group of girls had broken the shrine's doors with a ball. Shortly after, one of the girls who broke the shrine is hit by a falling chair. Michiru warns that the guardian deity of the shrine was angered and had placed a curse on the girls who broke the shrine. Michiru insists that the curse can be lifted if the girls apologize to the deity though the leader of the group, Hiromi, refuses to do this. A youkai, Marie Moriya helps the girls convince Hiromi to apologize to the deity. However, Marie learns that the guardian deity of the shrine, Sakunoshin, is a meek animal spirit that has nothing to do with the supposed curse afflicting the girls. It is revealed that Michiru herself was responsible for injuring one of the girls with a falling chair and endeavored to hit Hiromi with a fire extinguisher before being stopped by Marie. Michiru explains her frustration with how no one would listen to her when warned her classmates about the supernatural. After she felt the burst of emotion from the shrine, Michiru expected a curse to befall the girls who broke the shrine and was disappointed to see that nothing happened to them. Thus, Michiru started her own "curse" in an attempt to validate her warnings of the supernatural. Marie convinces Michiru to give up her "curse" and instead visit the guardian deity herself. The school nurse had recently repaired the shrine door and Michiru will be able to feel Sakunoshin's joy at his repaired home.

Hameln's Castanets
"Hameln's Castanets" follows Hikaru Nihei, an intelligent boy and member of the animal raising committee who is often bullied by way of taunts and having his notes thrown into the trash. To escape his bullying, Hikaru takes refuge in the rabbit cages which are fairly isolated from the rest of the school. While in the cages, Hikaru injures and abuses the rabbits to vent his frustrations. While abusing the rabbits, Hikaru is interrupted by Hameln, a relatively new youkai who is unranked in regards to other school youkai. Hameln tells Hikaru of his abilities: when inside the music room, Hameln can play his castanets to turn anyone into a small animal. Hameln offers Hikaru his powers and Hikaru uses them to turn four of his bullies into rabbits. He takes the rabbit-bullies into the rabbit cages and kills them in cruel ways. The next day, the gruesome scene of murdered rabbits combined with the news that four students never made it home have caused a stir within the school. Higanbana confronts Hikaru and tells him that he doesn't understand what it really means to kill. She drags Hikaru into his own memories and it is revealed that Hikaru himself had bullied a girl named Yuuko Kinoshita by throwing her notes away and noticeably looked down on his classmates. Higanbana recreates Hikaru's murders from the previous night but has the rabbits take their original form as humans. Hikaru is forced to kill his classmates in the same way that he killed the rabbits in order to properly understand what he did. When Higanbana and Hikaru return to the present, Hameln attacks Higanbana and turns her into a rabbit. However, before he can kill her, Higanbana leaps into Hameln's mouth and rips out his tongue and several of his organs, killing him. Higanbana regains her youkai form and takes Hameln's castanets. She uses them to turn Hikaru into a rabbit and places rabbit-Hikaru into a cage with the remaining rabbits. The remaining rabbits assault Hikaru as Higanbana leaves.

One Girl's Day
"One Girl's Day" serves as a type of epilogue to the earlier story "The Spirit Camera". The story follows an unnamed girl who goes about her day with a positive attitude. In order to test her, Higanbana plays a number of tricks on her in an attempt to dampen the girl's spirits, including tripping her and taking her homework. Despite Higanbana's constant antagonizing, the girl maintains a positive outlook, even when she is briefly sent to the infirmary for injuring herself. After leaving the infirmary, the girl finishes her school duties by cleaning out the science room. While cleaning the room and playing with her friends, the girl knocks over the anatomy dummy, breaking it. Another classmate, Takeshi Nonomiya was meant to clean the science room and, in order to avoid him taking the blame, the girl takes responsibility for her actions. The girl, now revealed to be Yoko Numata, heads to the rooftop to meet with Higanbana and Marie Moriya. Yoko, having eliminated any regrets she once had about her life, is ready for her soul to move on. As per their agreement, Yoko offers her soul to Higanbana, who begins to consume it as Marie voices her disapproval. As Marie leaves, Higanbana releases Yoko's soul and allows it to float to heaven before following Marie.

Utopia
"Utopia" follows Yukari Sakaki, a girl who had become the object of intense bullying from her classmates, resulting from a brief period of time when she wore dirty clothes to school. Despite the bullying, Yukari maintained that she must never show any response to the bullies or else the bullying will get worse. Higanbana begins to tempt Yukari into committing suicide to escape her bullies, however Marie Moriya intervenes and protests that death isn't the answer to her problems. In an attempt to save Yukari from her bullies, Marie lures the lead bully, Ozaki, to the old school bathrooms. She invokes the legend of Mesomeso and uses her frightening youkai form to scare Ozaki out of bullying Yukari in the future. Ozaki agrees to never bully Yukari again before running away. However, Ozaki's lack of bullying doesn't deter other bullies from antagonizing Yukari, thus rendering Marie's plan pointless. To Marie's surprise, a transfer student known as Reiko Osumi joins Yukari's class. Reiko is even weaker than Yukari and appears to incite bullying from the class that exceeds what Yukari was subjected to. Thus, Yukari is left alone as the entire class, including the teacher, begins to bully Reiko. Despite being left alone, Yukari becomes frustrated with the bullying and tells Reiko that she wants to fight the bullying together. To Yukari's horror, Reiko reveals herself to be the youkai known as Sumire, a fearsome youkai whose tears cause nearby humans to become addicted to bullying others. Marie attempts to save Yukari from Sumire but soon realizes that she cannot defeat Sumire despite being more powerful than her; if Marie were to get rid of Sumire then Yukari would once again become the object of the class bullies. Sumire takes advantage of Marie's inability to take action and quickly defeats her. Afterwards, Sumire decides to eliminate the characer of "Reiko Osumi" anyway and watch how Yukari handles being bullied again. The next day, the class gangs up on Yukari and begins to strip her of her clothes. Yukari manages to escape but Higanbana trips her and Yukari falls down a flight of stairs. For the next several days, Yukari is absent from school, which causes her classmates to become restless as they have no one to bully. When the school trip comes around, Yukari is still absent. While the class is on a bus, Higanbana appears in the middle of the road, causing the driver to swerve and drive through a guardrail and into a forest below. The crash kills the entire class, thus destroying all of the humans infected with Sumire's tears. Soon after, Yukari is transferred to a new class where she knows no one. She vows to stop any and all bullying wherever she sees it from that point on.

Development
Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni's origin dates back to 2006 when Ryukishi07 started writing a serial light novel titled Gakkō Yōkai Kikō: Dai-hachi Kaidan Boshūchū (学校妖怪紀行 第八怪談募集中), with illustrations by Nishieda. The novel first appeared in the third volume of Fujimi Shobo's Dragon Age Pure magazine on November 29, 2006. Two more chapters were serialized in Dragon Age Pure before it was discontinued: chapter two in volume four sold on April 20, 2007 and chapter three in volume five sold on June 20, 2007. The novel was adapted into a manga illustrated by Rei Izumi titled Gakkō Yōkai Kikō: Yō (学校妖怪紀行 ～枼～). A short preview of the manga appeared in the fifth volume of Dragon Age Pure, and was discontinued after the first chapter appeared in the sixth volume of Dragon Age Pure on August 20, 2007.