Don't mess with Ito (Fall Event 3/3)

Today at 12:56 pm

Mission:

As Hara lay on the grass with the stars overhead he activated his Byakugan to ensure the bullies were still following him. He could see them crouching in a bush, the leader had his gaze set on the nondescript bundle that was Hara's costume, and he put an arm on it protectively. He had clocked the kids following them ever since they returned to Itos house. Luckily his paranoid use of his Byakugan had paid off. Still, it provided no advantage to Hara to let the kids know that he had discovered them. He decided to wait them out, pretending to be asleep and using the time to observe them. He was extremely disappointed to see that this group was much older than the kids they bullied, 16-18 at least. He only briefly thought about hurting them before deciding that was too far, even for Hara.

He wanted to see how dedicated these kids were to being miscreants. Apparently, they were dedicated, as it was at least midnight when the boys began to silently creep away from the small camp. They must’ve thought that it wasn’t worth the risk, luckily for Hara they hadn’t seen the costumes or masks bought that day. Either way, as the group of three walked away from the camp Hara waited until they were roughly a 100 yards away before donning his costume and beginning to follow after. These kids had no idea what they signed up for.

As he began to follow he fell down into a full on crouched sprint, running more like a beast than a human. He was a terrifying sight, the bear fur made him resemble a bear, but with the face of an Oni. The pure white mask caught any light from the moon, making it appear vividly in the darkness of the forest. As he approached closer he began to slow and be more careful with his steps, he could hear them complain about the dark, or gripe about how muddy it was.

He made sure to follow close behind, he wasn’t planning on hurting these kids, but he was planning on scaring them. He moved further away from the group of 3 and sped up his pace, finally stopping 50 yards in front of the group and hiding in some trees that hung over the path. He breathed and calmed himself, readying himself for a performance. He grabbed 2 hollow bamboo shoots from his pockets that he had grabbed on his way home. He waited for the group to get closer, waiting until they were about 20 yards away from him. As soon as they got within range, he dropped down.

At first, the boys didn’t notice, and Hara sat in the pathway, crunched over on all fours with his head twisted at an uncomfortable and unnatural angle. The boys stopped and stared in silence trying to process what they were seeing. The leader was the first to make any real movement, slightly taking a step back and causing a twig to snap beneath his foot. At that noise and movement, Hara gave a blood curdling high pitched scream and rapidly drummed the two bamboo shoots together. The result was a mixture of terrifying scream and unnatural clacking noise that layered together into an amalgam of horror. The boys screamed, and began running back the way they came.

Now, for someone like Hara the forest was home, and he weaved through the trees and jumped over mangled roots with ease. His Byakugan gave him perfect vision, and it was a simple task to herd the boys to where he wanted. With a few well placed jumpscares and blood curdling screams he could reasonably force them to move left or right. The boys had lost all bravado, crying and sniveling as they ran together, sometimes tripping and helping each other up. He chased the group through the woods for hours, gradually exhausting them as he herded them in a circle through the woods. Finally, the leader proved why he was the leader, and forced the boys to stop.

“We can't keep…” He took a large inhale as he hunched over hands on his knees “...Running like this…We need to… Stop this.” The other boys simply stood there shivering in a mixture of cold and terror unable to do anything. The leader, showing some admirable bravery, turned around and faced the darkness of the forest, yelling out to what he believed to be the monster.

“We’re not afraid of you!!!” He yelled defiantly. Hara watched from above in the branches of a tree.

“You should be,” He said in a shrill and unnatural voice. Hara would never admit this to another soul, but when he was a child his mom made him act in plays, and it was a skill he had actually found an aptitude for.

The boys jumped in fright, looking around for the source, the leader was the only one cognizant enough to look up. Hara had now positioned himself to be unnaturally crouched with his arms and legs out, resembling some sort of humanoid spider he clung to the large branch, striking the visage of a demon on its perch. To his credit once more, the leader was still maintaining some bravery, but even he was beginning to shake and show fear. Good, thought Hara.

Hara dropped down with a resounding thud and the boys recoiled, backing up in fear.

“I have heard of your misdeeds young ones” He croaked, his words falling out of his mouth like sandpaper, he made it modulate at unnatural times, as if something not human was speaking and didn’t know how to talk normally. He clicked a few times, using his speed to approach too fast for them to do anything. He pushed his mask close to the leader's face, who was now frozen in fear.

“I do not care for this, do not care for it.” He continued. “ You made a grave mistake, breaking that mask.” The group look confused before finally really looking at Hara's mask, their eyes widening in recognition at the mask of Ito’s that they broke earlier that day. One of the boys whispered in shock “It’s… real?”

Hara took that opportunity to speedily crawl in a jerking manner towards the boy who spoke, getting close to him. “Oh yes, little one.” He clicked with the bamboo sticks under his bear fur cloak. Luckily for Hara the darkness concealed him well and the light of the moon really only illuminated his mask.

Now, with the boys sufficiently terrified, he crawled to a tree and with their attention locked on him, he grabbed a thick and sturdy branch. “Now, I have fixed the mask with the blood of an innocent” The child’s faces paled even further and it took Hara everything to not chuckle at their fear of his lie.

“I will be watching you, young ones. Do not think you can fool me… For if you attempt to bother or accost that boy representing me tomorrow.” He took the thick branch and snapped it like it was nothing, the boy's eyes widening at the demon's strength. “I will snap your little bones and use them to decorate my abode.” He could see the leader with tears of terror forming and Hara knew he had made his point then and there. He gave a sickly unhuman laugh and quickly crawled up the tree, stopping to look back one more time. “Goodbye now children, stay safe, who knows what's in these woods.” He gave one final blood curdling laugh mixed with a scream making the boys jump one more time in fright, then he crawled into the night and left the boys to their own devices. He knew they would be ok, they were only 100 yards from the edge of the woods this whole time.

By the time Hara got back to camp, the sun was beginning to rise. Not a problem, he thought. He was used to sleepless nights, and could operate on no
sleep for at least a couple days. Hara began the walk into town and to Itos house, stopping at the mask shop to buy a new one and ditching his bear fur cloak. His new mask was a simple white mask with a creepy lack of any facial features and 2 black pits for eyes. He waited until nightfall, sipping tea and people watching, occasionally activating his Byakugan but seeing no threats. As the sun began to set and kids began roaming the town with their parents, he made his way to Itos house.

“Awww, where's your other mask?” Ito said somewhat disappointed.

“Got stolen.” Hara lied, refusing to elaborate further. Ito shrugged in response and yelled back into the house “Mom Hara’s here, we’re gonna go!” The mom returned a goodbye back through the house and simply asked they return around 11. Hara and the boy left to make their way to the main area of town. Ito’s excitement was palpable but halfway through Hara could sense his trepidation before the boy finally stopped in his tracks.

Hara turned to look at him, the mixture of this scary demon mask and the frightened boy behind it was strange, “What is it, Ito?” He said.

The boy nervously kicked the dirt “What if those guys bully me tonight, I can’t fight or anything!” He said, anger and tears already bubbling to the surface.

Hara had had enough of this weakness, he kneeled down in front of Ito. “Never be afraid for what is to come, it will happen regardless of if you worry about it or not. You make yourself suffer for nothing.” Hara already knew the group of boys would be crazy to bother them tonight but Ito didn’t know that. The boy seemed to absorb what Hara said, contemplating it. “Now, let's get headed in, I will protect you tonight but you will need to learn to fight.” He motioned for the boy to follow and Ito obliged, still lost in thought at Hara's advice.
The night went off without anything of note happening save for one moment.

Ito and Hara were just finishing up their rounds through the town and Ito had a large bag of candy and an excited demeanor. His attitude shifted somewhat at the appearance of the group of bullies. Hara simply smirked from under his mask as the boys had yet to notice them as they came around the bend in the road. Everything Hara had done was for that one moment, and it was worth it. As Ito stopped in his tracks at the approaching boys no doubt in fear of a confrontation, that fear became surprise and then confidence as the group of bullies all stopped once they noticed Ito. Their faces paled and they looked down nervously. The leader approached cautiously with a bag of candy in his hands. “H-hey we wanted to say sorry about the mask, a-and here's some candy”

Hara was glad for the mask as it hid his beaming smile at Ito’s confidence. To Ito’s credit he forgave them graciously for an 11 year old, and the two groups parted ways. Hara and Ito made their way back to the house and Ito expressed interest in wanting to learn to fight. The boy asked Hara if he would be his teacher and that caused Hara to pause along their path. He knelt down once more to address Ito more seriously.

“You don’t want me as your sensei, Ito.” He took his mask off to better convey his serious attitude. He thought about whatd he say, thought about the path he was on. Eventually he decided to leave it, Ito was not old enough to comprehend things like that. He rose up, looking away from the disappointed child. “I will not be your teacher, your path is your own Ito.” With that he nodded curtly and they arrived at Itos house.

Hara had a short conversation with the parents, they thanked him profusely and he was happy to see that upon returning home Ito was in good spirits. He collected his payment and nodded to the two parents, waving goodbye to Ito and his family as he left. He knew he would never see them again, and he contemplated leaving the hot springs out of his future plans. No, no one is exempt. He thought to himself as he walked back to camp.

[Exit]

WC: 2000
5,000 Ryo / 25 AP / 20 Fall Fest Tickets and 1 Festival Poster

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