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nebulancer👹After Setsubun👹
Demons~ out!
Luck~~ in!!
The young voices of children exorcise the demons.
Those tiny hands resembling autumn leaves gripping beans and tossing them with all their might could be summed up in just one phrase: utterly charming.
“Oh, no. How scary, how scary.”
With two or three beans pattering onto his outfit, the purple demon made a show of taking a few steps back. The children were incredibly overjoyed.
“The demon ran away! The demon ran away!”
“Demons out~!”
“Out~!”
The children continued yelling and shouting, throwing beans. One of the adults who was watching over them from a distance approached.
“Hey, kiddos, what’s the matter? Don’t just toss beans in that direction. Toss some over here, too.”
“But there’s a demon!”
“Yeah! A demon!”
“......What?”
The children frantically attempted to bring the demon to the adult’s attention, to no avail. Unable to see the demon, the adult simply tilted his head.
“There is one!” “See, right there!” The children tried their best. The purple demon chuckled and said,
“This household is filled with brave children. The demon will retreat for today.”
And disappeared.
“Yay~!”
As their small fists were raised to the sky in triumph, the children’s faces sparkled with pride.
Fortune will surely arrive for those smiles very soon.
Setsubun.
That period, in which the seasons part, is a holiday for malice to be purified, and for fortune to be beckoned in.
It is a celebration for humans.
===
“So the children’s curse bested the big bad demon.”
I murmured to the empty air, and the demon, who should have disappeared, instead appeared at my side.
“Oh, Shu. You were watching?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know you somehow felt my presence.”
“Fair enough.”
Without acting ashamed in the slightest, the purple demon... Shiki said,
“That curse was even more threatening than the peach tree bow and reed arrows that they use during exorcisms.”
“......I can’t put up with you.”
I could only heave an exasperated sigh.
He was someone who could intimidate the palace located in the heart of the capital and fight against an entire military force. And yet here he was, making a show of getting chased away with the beans children threw.
Capricious, detached from the world, and enjoying himself all off in his own world. Yet there were times he laughed fearlessly in the midst of an uproar.
Unpredictable. Uncontrollable. Truly, a demon with the tendency to cause others trouble.
That was the leader of the demons, the Shuten-Doji Shiki.
“It’s been a while. Thanks for coming, Shu.”
When he said it to me in that tone of voice, I struggled to respond.
He was like a father to me... a brother, perhaps, but maybe even something different...... Regardless, he was deeply connected to me.
Despite how I may seem, I’m a dragon who’s attained divinity and has lived quite a long time......
But in his eyes, I may still look like a young child, no different from those children who tossed beans at him. It may be because he knew me ever since the instant I was born.
“What brought you here today?”
“......Since it’s Setsubun, some of my followers have offered up sacred sake to me...”
I lifted up the sake bottle, and Shiki’s eyes twinkled noticeably.
Good grief. Now this was a true Shuten-Doji [Drunkard Child].
Only alcohol caught his attention.
Despite saying that, I handed over the sake bottle to him. Shiki’s smile grew wider.
In the moment, his face gave off an oddly childish impression. It made me laugh this time.
Contrary to expectations, his facial build was quite youthful (and if I didn’t mince my words, I’d call him babyfaced).
“Is it okay for you to hand over godly provisions, meant to exorcise malice, to a demon such as myself?”
“That statement would sound more convincing if you weren’t gripping it with all your strength. (wry laugh) I’d be happy if it went away.”
“I see. Then I’ll gladly accept.”
His mood had clearly gotten more jovial. He tugged my hand and as if he’d just realized it, said,
“Before we leave. Could you drop one of your scales for that family?”
“?”
“It’s a present for the brave children. I want to prove to them that fortune’s come to them.”
“I’m...... fortune?”
“You’re a type of god, so basically you’re good luck.”
“What a sloppy connection.”
He scarcely made requests, and this one was for human children whose names he didn’t even know.
Though expressing my exasperation, I couldn’t refuse a request from my older brother figure. I plucked off a scale with my hand and descended to the earth.
“Demons~ out! Luck~~......?”
The children, who were perceptive of things inhuman, felt a vague presence and looked around. While pleasantly gazing at them, I gently dropped my scale into the container the beans were kept in.
The demon has guaranteed it.
Fortune, come to them.
# Tsukino Hyakkiyakou
# Setsubun
Hajime 🦊 (Black Celestial Fox) ← Soft on his juniors
Aoi 👹: Shiki-san... Is definitely cut from the same cloth as Hajime-san!!
Hajime 🦊: ...
Aoi 👹: ? Hajime-san?
Hajime 🦊: Did memories of Setsubun ever leave a bad taste in your mouth?
Aoi 👹: ! Fufu, it’s fine. I graciously get chased away as I yelp! Sometimes, I even receive candies, because they say, “It must be tough for you.” (laughs)
Koi (Nue): As expected of Aoi-san!!! Even during a holiday where you’re supposed to chase away demons, he’s being treated like a prince!!!
# Tsukino Hyakkiyakou
# Setsubun
# Ogres have it tough, too
👹A Distant Hand👹
Mom,
Mom,
I wanna go home
He’d thought it was a howl of an unfamiliar beast, but it was a crying human child.
She must have wandered pretty deep into the mountains.
While attempting to pacify the child, who was crying in shudders, he somehow managed to piece together the fact that her name was “Ito”.
She was a small, small girl who barely reached the top of Soushi’s stomach.
Her red dyed kimono was tattered and muddied.
Her thin arms and legs were covered in numerous scratches.
Her hair was messy, leaves were caught in it, which meant that she must have spent a good deal of time in the forest.
She was wearing a single worn out straw sandal, so when he asked her, “......Where’s your other sandal?”
She cried, sobbing,
“I lost iiit~~~ (crying)”
Aah, agh. He still didn’t really get what he did wrong, but he apologized regardless. However, it seemed she couldn’t stop crying once she got started.
And thus, Ito continued bawling loudly like a beast’s howl.
“Look, look!”
“The child from the chief’s place is making such a young child cry.”
“My, my, goodness me, what a bother!”
“He made her cry? Made her cry?”
Earth gods, nature spirits, and tree sprites poked their faces out in between the trees and the rock shade.
They were gleefully jeering, mocking Soushi as he stood still next to the bawling Ito.
“He made her cry ♪ Made her cry ♪”
“Meanie, meanie bully!”
“Not nice to bully the weak, demon boy!”
“Oh, shut it 💢”
“Eek!”
“...That... wasn’t... I wasn’t talking to you just now......”
“MOMMYYYYY~~~~”
“GAAAAHHHHHH—"
Soushi finally clutched his head in pain.
And that was when
Some divine intervention (literally) came to help out.
“Pretty lively, isn’t it, Sou?”
“......Mori!”
Clad in pristine white, the only sacred beast in the world, the Hakutaku Morihito had just descended from the heavens.
Regardless of the fact that his feet had just lightly touched the ground, Soushi tightly gripped his shoulders.
“You’re a lifesaver!!”
Those words were as heartfelt as could be.
Morihito had no response but a wry laugh.
After all, Soushi was quite the downer. Whenever Morihito came from the heavens to hang out, it’d always be, “Sheesh, you’re here again?” “Hurry up and leave.” “You must have tons of free time on your hands.”
Yet tonight, he was nothing short of welcoming.
Though Morihito felt he was quite sly for this, he didn’t feel upset, as a friend who always treated him like a kid was relying on him.
Not minding the fact that his clothes were getting dirty, he squatted elegantly. He lowered himself to Ito’s height and met her eyes, smiling.
“It’s a nice night out, don’t you think?”
“...hic... ...Wheh...”
“Ito-chan, right? I’m Morihito. That’s Soushi. Let’s get along.”
“N-not... M-mom... mommy... ...hic.”
“Mmhmm. It’s okay, you’ll be okay.”
Morihito slowly reached out his hand and gently patted her small back.
The bodies of human children are warmer than that of the heavenly gods and more sensitive than that of the earthly beasts. His chest tightened up thinking about her bravery.
Gradually, Ito’s breaths calmed down, but her eyelids inadvertently began to droop.
Feeling the sensation of Soushi exhaling a slight breath behind him, Morihito silently laughed.
The young oni was weak to crying children.
The omniscient sacred beast treated children perfectly.
＊＊＊
“You’re okay with having your horns grabbed?”
“......She apparently prefers it this way, so what else can I do?”
Soushi carried Ito on his shoulders, and Morihito walked beside him. The ogre-human-heavenly beast procession continued into the dark forest of the night.
Ito was tightly gripping the horns growing from Soushi’s head, elated and enraptured.
At the beginning, she was working up a huge fuss crying, but when she realized that the two meant to send her back home, she grabbed the oni’s horns as tight as she wanted.
It seemed she was a girl with nerves of steel.
When they asked her where she lived,
“Four!”
She told them how old she was.
When they asked her if she had any landmarks that could help distinguish the place she lived,
“I know a grandpa!”
She told them that.
Soushi knit his brows together, thinking, “We’re not matching up,” but without a moment’s delay, Morihito jumped in with instructive guidance, asking for further detail on Ito’s words.
“Grandpa... Is he your grandfather?”
“Mm...? Grandpa’s Grandpa! Grandpa Yamana! Ito’s gonna go play at Grandpa’s place with Mommy!”
She said.
“Yamana... ...Yamana, I see. It’s the village at the base of the mountains.”
The two nodded at each other and began descending the mountain.
While they walked in the direction of the village, they gleaned more information when they asked more. Ito and her mother were on the mountain path that led to Yamana Village when Ito found a young raccoon dog.
It seemed that she’d wandered deep into the forest, chasing after it because it was so cute.
Her mother must be very worried by now.
Ito, too, yearned to see her mother.
As she continued chatting, “Mommy did that, Mommy did this,” she gradually grew tired and fell asleep.
Soushi saw Ito fully drift off into sleep, gingerly lowering her and changing her position to a piggyback. He rocked her once.
And he murmured unintentionally,
“Mom, huh...?”
“Sou?”
“No, it’s just... I also used to be human, right? The energy of the battlefield influenced me when I was a newborn, which turned me into a demon.”
“And that’s where the Shuten-Doji... Shiki-san picked you up.”
“Yeah.”
Soushi stopped talking for a moment. While carefully choosing his words, which was a rare action for him to take, he said,
“...If I used to be human, I suppose I must’ve had a mother, too.”
“...”
A cold breeze blew past them.
“A well-dressed maidservant was holding onto you, and there were numerous attendants in your immediate vicinity.
......Were you escaping from somewhere? Or maybe you were about to escape? Regardless......”
—You must have come from quite the well-off family. The ogre who picked up Soushi...... Shiki continued.
“I don’t care about where I was born. It doesn’t matter.”
His foster child pouted while sitting atop his lap. Shiki chuckled and ruffled his hair.
The young Soushi puffed up his cheeks, arguing, “Don’t treat me like a kid!” as he looked up.
A terribly high up, but incredibly gentle, gaze looked back down at him.
The ruler occasionally made this look because he had lived much longer than others.
“Don’t say it doesn’t matter.
It’s where you began. They put their lives on their line to protect yours.”
“......”
At that time, Soushi didn’t know how to respond. It took everything out of him to just keep silent and nod.
Even now, he didn’t know what he should have replied with.
“......A mom, huh? I’ve never had one either.”
“Mori...”
Soushi came to his senses hearing Morihito’s words.
Morihito said, while looking at Ito’s face as she slumbered on Soushi’s back,
“I don’t have a mother, a father, or anyone else. There’s no other beast like me in the entire world.”
“......That’s true.”
The only one in the world.
That phrase held a great value, but at the same time, it contained within it a great solitude.
To have a mother.
To have lost one.
To have never had one in the first place.
The three, each with their individual thoughts regarding their mothers, would find it difficult to discover a correct answer to it all, no matter how much they thought about it.
The only thing they could say was,
“......Mo... mm... my...”
That such an existence was very, very precious to Ito.
＊＊＊
The mother and child firmly hugged each other, laughed, and got upset, and with all sorts of different emotions mixing up together, they cried. After watching over them reunite, Soushi and Morihito returned to the mountain.
“I’m so glad they could get back together.”
“Yeah.”
“......Since I’m an omniscient beast, I know the sensation of having a mother. However, I can’t probably properly feel how it feels to have one.”
“Mmhmm.”
“But I have friends whom I treasure just as much. Isn’t that amazing?”
“That’s... true.”
The young girl’s grand journey on a single night became a rumor and made the rounds every time winter came.
“You can never be sure that you’ll meet a kind demon, no matter how many of them are around. That’s why you can’t go into the forest alone.”
The legend taught that moral, a story that parents would teach their children.
Ever since, Yamana Village stopped saying, “Demons out” when they scattered beans on Setsubun.
# Setsubun
# If we say it’s Setsubun, it’s Setsubun
# Post-Setsubun Festival
# Tsukino Hyakkiyakou
Sora😸: Today's Setsubun~~!!!!!!!
# Our tweet disappeared once, so we're reuploading it
# We rewrote it using the memory of our past story as a base, but it became oddly longer. The beans' miracle
# Setsubun
# Tsukino Hyakkiyakou
Sora (ΦωΦ) : BTW this is Sou Language:
“Sheesh, you’re here again?” = Thanks for coming
“Hurry up and leave.” = Go back before they get upset with you
“You must have tons of free time on your hands.” = Take your time and relax
# He's got more sour in the sweet-and-sour scale
# Tsukino Hyakkiyakou
# They get along
