In Nagano Prefecture, known for its hills and dense forests, a quiet night was broken by faint rustling in the trees and bushes that can be heard from afar.
A silhouette figure of a man running can be seen, gasping as his pale face drenched in sweat reflecting the dread he felt from whatever was chasing him, blood dripped steadily marking his track as he kept running while holding back the pain from a deep slash wound on his left arm.
As he frantically looks back in panic, as a high-pitched echoing scream rang out. It sounds so horrible that would make his head feels like splitting apart. As he ran, his legs grew heavier, his heart pounded while his lungs ached for air.
Suddenly a strong gust came from behind and blasted him off balance. "Ghaaaah!"
He cried as his body got blown away and slammed into a big tree and roll over, a burning pain emerge from his back, when he wants to groan in pain, another horrifying scream permeates the air. This time its heavier and louder than the last one. within the dark a sound of tree cracked can be heard, plunging him into an even more despair, he crawled with every ounce of strength he had left and hide behind the big tree beside him.
Just as he lay low, each breath sending a stabbing pain through his chest as his vision became blurry, his vision swam as his mind danced between his survival instinct and fear. Slowly, another figure appeared, a towering bear came out from the shadows. His size is ginormous, it's like a size of a small truck. he has been living in Nagano prefecture all his life, but he has never seen a bear this massive.
That beast lets out another deafening roar as he swings his overgrown claw around, destroying surrounding tree and cleave boulder, amid the wild swing there's a several blurry figures moving in flash around the bear. That thing keeps swirling around creating strong wind gust as more and more blood and wound appeared on that bears body.
Astonished by the scene, it seems a fight broke up. That bear against a fast-moving creature that keep swirling around it, A loud crash shook the ground beside him. He instinctively flinched, peeking up to find the twisted, lifeless body of a strange creature lying mere feet away. It has a size of a fully grown fox, but its fur was bristled and wiry, its mouth parted to reveal razor-sharp fangs, it has a strange claw like arms, resembling a Mantis. Even in death, its form was intimidating—something like a massive weasel, but with limbs that seemed longer.
The bear grew furious as he presses its attack and be more aggressive, it appears that the bear is outnumbered. The man hid again and can't stop trembling. He clenched his fist and place in on his forehead as he prays that monster wound never find him.
As the fight raged on, the monstrous bear reared up on its hind legs, muscles tensing as it charges forward trying to catch the fast-moving creature, the bear lost in terms of speed, that charge easily avoided and the bear keep charging and hit the big tree where that man was hiding, a loud snapping sound can be heard from the bottom trunk, with a loud splintering crack. The tree teetered, creaking ominously, then fell directly toward the man's hiding place.
His eyes widened in horror as he realized what was happening. He turned to run, but the tree fell too quickly. With a thundering impact, it slammed down, and he felt branches and splinters tear at his back as he was pinned beneath the heavy trunk. Miraculously, he found himself a small, wedged ditch that fits his body, just deep enough to save him from being crushed completely. His legs lay trapped beneath the weight on one side of the tree, while his head and one arm were free on the other.
The man pressed his fist to his mouth, forcing himself to stay silent. His breath came in shaky, shallow gasps as he strained his ears, listening for any sign that the monstrous bear had noticed him. Every instinct screamed to stay still, to hold his breath, to hide.
After what felt like hours, the forest fell silent. The bear, satisfied with its victory, stomped off into the shadows, leaving only the aftermath of its brutal fight behind. He tried to move, to push the tree off, but his strength was spent. Weak and dizzy from blood loss, he realized he could barely move. Hunger gnawed at him, and his lips were parched, his vision slowly dimmed, and he fainted.
- - -
When he next opened his eyes, the forest was dark and eerily quiet. His throat felt like sandpaper, and the cold seared into his bones, he craved for something to drink, alas he was trapped. His condition worsened as it was followed up by a hunger that clawed his insides, an aching emptiness that refused to be ignored. His eyes drifted to the lifeless body of the strange creature mere feet away, its fur now dull with its lifeless eyes staring at him. Desperation drove his shaking hand forward, reaching toward the creature and dragged it closer.
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He hesitated, but he's unable to ignore the desperation he felt. His urge to survive overwhelmed any lingering disgust. He gritted his teeth as his trembling hands slowly tore into the flesh of that creature, his survival instincts pushing him past any rational thought. The flesh was cold and slimy, resisting every bite with a sickening, rubbery chew, while the stench of rawness turned his stomach. Each mouthful came with a gritty crunch, like bits of sand and gravel mixed with blood and sinew, coating my teeth in a foul, metallic tang. The taste lingered, heavy and bitter, making each swallow feel like choking down something foul that should never be eaten. He quenched his hunger with its meat and relieve her thirst with its blood, slowly after that he felt something surge within him.
Warmth began to pulse through his veins, faint at first, then stronger. Until it became smoldering hot, he urges to scream out his burning feeling inside but hold it in as fearing it will be heard by that bear-like creature. He clutched his as he groans, enduring the burning sensation from his lungs that slowly starting to spread throughout his whole body. The sudden rising in temperature making him hard to breathe and his eyes slowly remembers all the pent-up exhaustion he felt, and black out.
- - -
When he woke, he was lying in a hospital bed, his family gathered around him. They bombarded him with questions, relieving any lingering anxiety in their eyes. It had been three days since he was found trapped beneath that fallen tree and had been recovering in the hospital ever since.
It appears that his wife was the one who contacted the police that night and they've been searching for him ever since. Grateful to be alive, he explained his ordeal in vivid detail to the police, although he purposely avoid the parts where he consumed that creature. After listening his full story they seemed skeptical. Coincidentally there's a strong Hurricane that had swept through the area that night, the police attributed his survival and dismiss his story as [Amid Hurricanes, a drunk who got caught in a freak accident]. Although he was feeling a bit annoyed by that statement, he just let it go. The man examined his arm and his back for any remains of injury, but there is no sign of injury that can be seen, was it really because of Alcohol? No, the sensation he felt that night was real, and even though no one believed him, deep inside he knew that what he experienced that day was not because of any Alcohol or Hallucination.
After he was discharged from the hospital and returned home along his wife and daughter, he began researching about his strange encounter and the weird experience he had. He consulted local hunters and wildlife experts, visited the site of where he was attacked and even combed through the national history library. Gradually, he pieced together a theory, he came to a conclusion and deduced that 'That' thing he saw back then must be a Yokai, there's no other explanation. A massive, towering creature with a size of a small truck when he stands up, a long-overgrown claw with a size almost reaching 3 feet, a power that can easily topple trees and even clawed a large boulder apart. Something that magical or large will bound to gather attention, but none of the wildlife preservation nor the nearby hunter have heard of such things. According to the book about old mystery yokai book he read on the library; it has to be an Onikuma. A mythological creature resembles that of a huge bear native to Nagano prefecture who likes to go down a mountain and steal horse or cattle from nearby village to appease its appetite.
And the other Yokai the bear was fighting and the one he had eaten was a Kamaitachi, a sickle-wielding weasel. Legend says that it was a trickster Yokai that rides the wind. The man holds his chin and ponder, "No wonder there's so much gust that night, that thing can easily create wind. Was the hurricane the result of their works too?". He looked at the illustration of the Kamaitachi again and notice a subtle difference. "Normally weasels are considerably smaller than a normal house cat, but this one has the size of a fully grown fox, with sickles for claws and a sickle-like tail, their fur looked soft, but it was barbed like hedgehog". The man continues to investigate while writing the details in his notebook.
With each revelation, he grew increasingly uneasy. He started to worry about the after effect of consuming a Yokai, he worries that someday he will die of unknown cause and leave his family in grief. Determined to prepare if such thing really happens, he began to change, from someone who lives poorly and getting drunk every night to someone responsible and earnest in his work, he managed to strike big and earn a fortune in his work, eventually he bought a large piece of land with that money, his family prosper, but he done all that for the sake of his family, if one day something happened to him, his family can still live well without him.
[As I write this, I leave a warning to future generations: never wander alone past midnight, especially during Moonless night. That day… no one believed me, but it matters not. I never meant to reveal the full truth. Remember well—yokai are no beings for mortals to trifle with. They are as ancient as the shadows and as unyielding as the mountains].
[Since that night, my body has been revitalized, my wounds have healed, and all my past ailments vanished. Were this secret to be known, many would seek it out. The lengths to which human greed will go to grasp a longer life cannot be underestimated].
[I stumbled upon it by mere chance and have yet to pay any price. But should there be one… I pray that my descendants will not suffer or be burdened by the cost of my actions].
Usui Genjo
He died at the age of 147, many people question his longevity. Because someone with poor lifestyle at young age and constantly drown in alcohol during his middle age years can't possibly live that long without external help, there must be some secret. But no one dare ask it, even his own family didn't know. He's nothing but a humble old man dragging his secret to his grave.