Kintsugi For the Oni (Fall Event 2/3)

Mission:

          Hara was worried he did a bad job with the mission yesterday, but that ended up being far from the truth, and Ito’s parents requested him to aid with the purchasing of a costume. Luckily for Hara, Ito was the type of personality who could get along well with him. They were both quiet and reserved people. Still, he hoped today could end sooner rather than later, as much as Hara was relieved Ito was like him, he had no desire to take on a pupil of any kind or make friends with a child. He was here for the money, and that was it.

As he approached the house, he could see Ito sitting on the small porch, seemingly waiting for Hara. Upon coming closer however, he could see Ito wiping tears away from his eyes. Hara approached and stood silently, he considered just leaving. This was not his strong suit, but for some reason he felt a kinship with Ito.

“What is wrong?” He said with some chagrin

“Yuji and his friends, they destroyed my costume.” He wiped his eyes and sniffled, looking down at a white oni mask, broken and covered in mud.

Hara wordlessly approached and picked up the mask, taking a long minute to examine the two pieces. He thought back to the practices his mom had taught him, broken things were not a rarity in Haras house, as his father often had violent outbursts when Hara would fail his training.

The mask was undoubtedly intimidating, it was pure white, with an unnaturally large smile and a long nose that protruded out by a whole foot. The top was adorned with two horns, and the eyes were painted black to give the appearance of black soulless pits for eyes. It was cracked in half in a jagged edge that ran from the top left of the mask down to the bottom right cheek. Hara pushed the two pieces together, seeing that they fit perfectly, he gave a nod and then turned to Ito.

“We can fix this.” He said simply.

The young boy's eyes lit up, “really?!” He stood up, excited now “That would be so cool please Mr.Hara!”

“Settle down” He said sternly, calming Ito somewhat. “We need to head into the market to grab some supplies, I will teach you the practice of Kintsugi” He said with finality, moving towards the market with the mask in hand and Ito trailing behind.  

As they walked, the boy caught up to Hara's unfaltering stride, his breath ragged. Hara made no motion to stop, but asked the boy as they walked into town. “Tell me about these enemies of yours.” He said, referring to the bullies that had destroyed the mask.

“They're a bunch of jerks, they just like to be mean on halloween and prank kids.” Ito kicked the dirt a bit in his hurt feelings. “I didn’t even do anything to them, they just like picking on anyone.”

Hara did not respond. Simply choosing to remain walking, thinking on what the boy had said. Perhaps it was his own history of bullying and that was causing guilt, or perhaps he saw himself in Ito. Regardless, he began to formulate a plan as to how he would help Ito against these bullies.

Those thoughts had to be put on the backburner however as the two of them arrived at a small local crafts shop. Hara had not been here before, he had very little time for crafts. But, he did know that this store would have what he needed. With a short conversation and a description of what he needed, the store owner silently and quickly produced the required materials, only giving a slight nod to Hara as he slightly bowed his head and paid for his goods. Hara walked out of the store. Now thats my kind of storeowner, he thought to himself.

The next stop they had was a store that dealt in furs and animal hides. He bought 2 large bear furs, one 7ft in length and 5ft in width, the other a much smaller 5ft in length and 3ft in width. Next he stopped at a mask store, picking out an oni mask identical to Itos, the shopkeeper greeted the boy with judgment upon seeing the broken mask “And I only sold this to you just a day ago! You need to be a more responsible person, young man” The man said, scolding Ito. The boy began to speak an apology before Hara interrupted with a swift choke hold on the store owner. He lifted the man into the air as he struggled for breath, “Do not speak on things you know nothing about.” He said simply. “Nod that you understand now.” The man struggled and gave a brief nod before Hara dropped him to the ground. The two left the man gasping for breath on the floor of his store. Ito looked at Hara with some mixture of admiration and fear but otherwise said nothing. Smart kid, Hara thought.

As they returned to the house Hara began to lay out his plan. “First I will teach you the practice of Kintsugi. Then, we will make the costumes.” He gave a curt nod at Ito as if devising a battle plan. Ito simply nodded before pausing “Uh, what’s Kintsugi?” He asked.

Hara would lay out the practice of fixing broken things known as Kintsugi. As he took the broken mask out he heated up the sticky lacquer that he bought at the crafts shop. Hara was always taught to use gold lacquer but considering the festivities he decided to go with a sickly blood red. He would carefully and gradually cover the inside of each broken edge with this lacquer, normally avoiding large droplets or buildup. This time however he would allow those to develop, so that when he pressed the mask together they would make streaks running down the mask, giving the impression of a bloodied Oni. Ito to his credit was a quick learner, and even helped during the process.

Once the mask was finished, it was time to stitch it to the bear rugs. He took both masks and carefully and precisely stitched the masks into the bear fur. Now, when the mask was put on, the back and front of the body was covered in a large mat of black fur, like an oversized cloak. The parents came in briefly to check on their progress right as they were finishing up.

“Honey! Just wanted to see how you guys were- OH MY GOD” the mom gave a frightened shout before some laughter. “Wow those are some scary costumes, nice job Ito!” Ito giggled in response and ran around the house.

The mom and Hara talked while Ito tested out his new costume. “Thankyou Hara, we have one more favor to ask of you.” Hara cringed inwardly, already knowing what was to come, it was why he made a costume for himself.

“Can you take Ito trick or treating? He seems to look up to you, and me and his father have work-” Hara put up a hand to interrupt her

“I will take your son trick or treating tomorrow. You do not need to plead with me ma’am.” He said matter of factly.

The mother gave a gracious smile “Thankyou Hara. Feel free to stop by around 8pm tomorrow.”

Hara simply nodded and left curtly, returning to his camp with his costume and a small payment. He fell asleep that night looking up at the stars, trying to think of a time that he celebrated Hallows Eve. He couldn’t remember one.

[Exit]

WC:1275

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