Reading Guide:
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The early morning light permeated through the top floor window of a mini apartment in the bustling city of Tokyo. Not the biggest. Probably not the most tidy of rooms either. The plain white walls are littered with posters of iconic characters you might just see in the next issue of Shounen Jump. Tankabons and water bottles that spread all around the wooden floor blocked any clear stepping space. Nibs, pens and A4 paper sat on the low table in front of the floor level bed.
Under the blankets hid the delicate and petite figure of Akane Kamiya, a second year college student originally from the west of Kyoto.
Akane was already awake when the bright sun started rising through the cityscape.
/BEEP BEEP BEEP/
Not even a second after the alarm started it's irritating morning blare it had already been thrown all the way across the room, Akane's blanket flying off. She was unapologetically grumpy, tired, groggy… everything. This was the third night in a row she couldn't sleep.
To add insult to injury she had to attend her grandmother's funeral. Her beloved Baachan.
Akane never saw her much but when she did, it was always a time to remember. Why? Because Akane knew… her grandma could do noroi. Supposedly. Her childhood imagination believed everything.
As past memories of her grandmother flashed through her closed eyelids, she took her kuma kuma blanket from the floor and wiped her heavy tears. With one last sigh she patted her face.
"Yoish! No time to be sad right Taro-Kun!" The plush inu dog resting on her nightstand (actually a mini teatable) had no response.
"No time to be sad now. She never liked that, but I really do wish I could've seen her one last time."
You see, Baachan was not a homebody. Not in the slightest. She had traveled ALL of Japan and even more impressive, the WHOLE WORLD. Using noroi to battle all of the bakemono, yokai and the terrifying Asura that messed with the lives of humans. Or at least… that's what Baachan told her.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Akane picked up her blanket, 'folded it' (literally just rolled it up three times) and threw it on her bed. She approached the mirror or her small bathroom. Her worked up enthusiasm seemed to wither away as she contemplated where she was heading that day.
With the energy of -100 turtles she brushed her teeth and ran her hand through her thick black hair that seemed to just about touch her hip line. She kept it loose except for a red ribbon that she used to tie a segment of her hair with nearing the bottom. The rest seemed a bit unkempt, going along with the rest of her appearance. Her family always said she was lucky she had such an appealing face. Her dark and long eyelashes outlining her eyes giving her an almost feline appearance. This time she put in a little bit more effort and applied some foundation or concealer (she can't quite tell the difference yet) becuase her eye bags looked worse than any all nighter.
Those nightmares were giving her a hard time. She couldn't even remember them. Only the dark, musky, suffocating feeling they provoked in her.
She slipped on one of her 3 white blouses, zipped up her jeans and grabbed her favorite black jacket. At the entrance the hanger next to the door held on to all her collected jewelry, raincoats and the remains of the last kimono she wore in New Years. Her black heeled boots sat next to the door waiting for the touch of her feet to warm their cold interior.
Akane walked over to the short hall that led to the door.
"Hmm... I don't have money to buy a proper burial gift for Baachan" she thought.
After a moment of what seemed to be deep thought;
"Baachan loved dogs didn't she," she turned around, heading back to the main room, "Taro-kun I'm going to take you with me!"
Wait. She stopped in her tracks; eyeing her nightstand.
"Taro-kun?" she took a step forward. Suddenly she felt a soft surface under her foot.
sssquuuueeeeaaAAAAHHHHHHHHhh
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
She decided to dig her foot deeper into the soft belly of the plush she lovingly named Taro-kun.
Nothing.
She sighed, "I gotta get myself together."
Akane bent down and grabbed the plush, still a little uneasy, and tied it to one of the straps on her leather mini backpack. Before she went on her way she looked around her small apartment, contemplating the messy looking room, papers on her table and all the posters on her walls.
She whipped her head in disgust and haste as she turned around, slipped on her boots and headed out the door.
As her footsteps faded down the hall her small apartment sat in silence. Not for long. As the unrelenting morning light of the sun shone throught her window a dark red liquid started to drip on the surface of her walls and pooling on the wooden floors. The friendly faces of beloved shounen characters turned corrupt, now wearing ear-to-ear smiles with teeth that could belong to feral beasts. Eyeballs popped and bounced around the room bumping into all of her dishes and furniture. Decrepit, rotting hands reached from a dark endless void that formed in the middle of the living space.
A worn out piece of cloth stuck to her window.
Bakemono.